Blue Alert
by Qwisse
Summary: <html><head></head>It can't be said he was running from his past, but he never wanted it to come to light unexpectedly one day. Now, though, everything looks like it's going to be revealed and then affect his life greatly. AU, possible Sonadow. ON HIATUS.</html>
1. Prologue: Breaking away

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the characters. SEGA does.

**Prologue: Breaking Away.**

.w.

His power was still scaring them.

Yes, they had created him. He didn't know the reason they had done it for – to save this world or to destroy it. He never really cared. The only thing he knew was that one day they had got scared of what they'd done… and had tried to get rid of him.

Not too fair, if you wanted to know his opinion.

They had managed to catch him off guard somehow. There was a fight, and a tough one, but at last he had ended up being put into that goddamned tube. Disgraced. Defeated.

And then he had fallen asleep.

He was not really sleeping… His mind was floating, surrounded with thick, pleasantly cold substance, twitching slightly when burning sparkles of thoughts flashed nearby. At first the comprehension of himself being defeated, of his own weakness were searing through every part of his being, making the substance around him boil instantly. But the time was passing by… and he finally took his current state as a matter of course. Almost got used to it.

Sometimes he could see the room a tube with his body was left in. But every time he found it dark and void, so he cut off those sorties shortly.

He couldn't break this closed circle, couldn't get free again. At least by himself.

The only thing he could do was to wait…

.w.

It took some time for him to realize that the substance was no more embracing him, that it had gone along with the feeling of endless free fall. That it was the air tickling his fur, fondling it, caressing it.

The air… as still and cold and fusty as it had been when… then.

How much time had passed? A day? A year? A century? He couldn't tell, but he was eager to know.

A faint shining of pale blue caught his attention, reminding him that he still was not alone in the room. There were no glass before him anymore, and he could clearly see the one who had freed him.

A hedgehog… Not a complete lookalike, but rather close to it. Black fur with red stripes, strangely upturned quills; traditional white gloves, odd-looking shoes. Golden rings on his wrists and ankles. Was Gerald still using them as energy controllers? How primitive…

Pity that he couldn't see the face of his savior from his place.

The dark one was leaning over one of the control panels, examining it curiously. The former prisoner glanced over the dark room, and his lips formed a wily smile as it became all too clear for him that there were no scientists around. And that could mean only one thing… The black hedgehog sure had gotten into this forbidden but so tempting area secretly to explore it without having someone's eye on him. And he certainly had had no intention of freeing anyone - he simply had pressed one of the buttons accidentally.

It would be nice to explain him what a mistake he had made…

Very, very slowly and carefully the fugitive stepped outside the capsule.

He could swear he hadn't made any sound – but his dark copy twitched as if someone gave him a sudden flick on his ear. And turned around. "Who are you?"

The lookalike's hearing was perfect, he had to admit. Or maybe wasn't it? Maybe the dark one just saw a blurred reflection on the screen before him or his intuition poked him gently at his shoulder?

Eh. Whatever it was, this only meant the awakened one had to be on his guard henceforth.

"Strange that you don't know. I thought you would recognize me," a low purr came out while the runaway stepped a little bit forward – just to check up the other's reaction. "I thought I was pretty known, at least to everyone who lives in this colony."

The lookalike didn't step back nor tried to stop him, but tensed up visibly. He glanced over him once again, more cautiously this time, trying to recall this vibrant blue fur – or anything he could have ever heard of it.

"No, I don't know you," he said finally.

_'__Damnit. I could guess Gerald concealed that story from the government so he could continue his mad experiments, but didn't he at least cook up a couple of dreadful legends to frighten children and some naïve hedgehogs? What a shame.'_

Green eyes met gleaming red ones. He had to get back to business before his lookalike would get a bright idea of calling up the scientists.

"That's bad."

The dark one was given no time to realize what the other was up to. In a split second he was thrown against the wall with his forearms pressed painfully against the cold metal. The runaway practically leaned against his opponent, set on fixating him in place- and at the same time trying to reach for that tiny button on the floor with the tip of his shoe…

The dark back arched in shock and a strangled cry came out, making the blue furry chuckle in content.

"Then let me tell you the story by myself," the blue one tilted his head to let his nose touch the other's briefly. "Once upon a time one hedgehog lived here on ARK…"

"Let me go!" the striped one twitched to escape, but the other was ready for that and managed to keep his hold on him, tightening the grip and threatening to crush a couple of bones.

"One day bad scientists decided that they didn't need him anymore, caught him and froze him. Goddamned liquid, still makes me shudder…" Hot breath washed over the slick black ear, making it flick and fold back instinctively. "And now, as you did him a favour and freed him, he's gonna…"

And in the next moment the blue one was thrown off.

He didn't even notice the movement. Just a second later he was sitting on the floor with his back against the wall, while the dark one already was near the door, bringing his whole weight against it, striving to open it. Leaving the other behind to admire his strength and speed.

One tiny thing prevented the striped hedgehog from escaping – the door was already locked.

The blue one had managed to push that button, remember?..

The fallen hedgehog stood up easily, shaking the dust off himself purposely slow. Looked up to meet startled red eyes. "Bad idea."

…The fight between the two was fierce, but short, very short. Less than a minute passed, and the blue one was already pressing his lookalike against the wall, one hand almost lazily squeezing his throat. The dark body was squirming wildly against the hand, trying to remove it, taking uneven, hard breaths. Yet taking…

Both of them knew who was going to lose. Even if one of them still refused to admit it.

A single drop of blood emerged from a thin cut above the black eyebrow. Slowly, almost regretfully it slid down tan cheek and then fell off the chin, splitting itself against the back of ungloved peach hand. Warm, almost hot… The fugitive could swear he felt its metallic taste on the tip of his tongue.

The blue one looked at his enemy once again, green eyes locking with dull, darkening red ones. The enemy… and still the savior. Was it right to let him die- to kill him like this? Probably not.

The dark one jerked once again, breathing sharply as the grip around his throat loosened a bit.

"Y'know, I just thought it would be a bit ungrateful for me to kill someone who saved my quills, dontcha think?"

Peach fingers were still pressed against the dark hedgehog's throat, yet no more suffocating him. Despite this, the dark one was already glaring daggers at his captor, his poise if not back completely, then very close to it. "Whatever you want… you won't get it. I won't let you get away with it."

"Oh?" a blue brow quirked, showing amusement. "Please, don't make me laugh. Haven't you got enough yet?"

Instead of words, a dark hand reached forward sharply in reply and closed around the blue throat. The grasp was surprisingly firm and slightly painful and all of a sudden, but the blue hedgehog threw it off with his second hand almost immediately. Peach finders caught gloved ones and pressed them roughly against the wall. "It's not cool to use someone else's ways, you know? Hey, I didn't mean this, but seeing how badly you want it…"

Ungloved finders tightened, and the dark furry gasped. His legs kicked wildly and his whole body began twisting, desperate to get away from the suffocating grasp. The blue one now had to put much more effort in keeping his lookalike in place, his grip hardening even more beyond his will. He bit into his lower lip uneasily. With the dark hedgehog acting like this, there was only one way left for the blue one to get out of this…

"Shadow? Are you there?"

The blue one froze. The black one followed him, but not for long. The dark body moved slightly, and peach ungloved hand shot up to press itself against tan lips. Just in time – a faint mumbling vibrated against bare fingers, but definitely didn't reach the door and the girl standing behind it.

About the girl…

"Shadow?"

Her voice sounded faint and uncertain as if the girl knew she wasn't allowed to be here as well. But at the same time she already was… Did she know precisely about her black-furred friend beyond the door, was she aware of all the sounds the hedgehogs had made, or was it just her brief, unfounded surmise?

Two bodies met in fierce, but absolutely silent wrestle. One of them was trying to break free, to throw the hand off his mouth and give the alarm, while the other was desperate to make him stay still and quiet. For now the second one was prevailing.

The whole goddamned eternity passed before the fading sound of footsteps hit the blue ears. And then their owner finally let himself relax a bit.

"Shadow…" The blue one whispered softly, staring straight into red eyes, dull and shaded again. His fingers loosened for the second time. "Is it your name?"

Peach hand still was covering tan mouth, so the dark hedgehog nodded silently, obviously more quiet and less stubborn now and almost limp against his tormentor.

Something clicked in the blue head. "That girl looking for you… Sounded like she was a good friend of yours or something…" He licked his lips; maybe there still _was_ a second way to solve it. "Look… you still want to stop me and things, don't you?"

A nod of the striped head. A small and uncertain, but it was a nod.

"Fine. You don't even mind getting into trouble after releasing me, right?"

Something shifted in red eyes. Probably the dark furry had already forgotten about his fault, and the thought about the punishment definitely didn't seem too pleasant to him. But he still nodded.

"Alright. But what about her? If you're friends, it's gonna be hard for you to explain Gerald that she has nothing to do with it."

Bingo. Something close to terror reflected in ruby orbs, which went impossibly wide at once. There indeed was a storm of thoughts, a feverish silent search for a better way out of this… and the blue one just needed to give the other a tiny push in the right direction.

"Now look. How about we pretend that nothing happened? I don't touch you and your friend and leave the colony, you don't tell anyone about my escape. Trust me, it will take ages for them to notice it."

Inner fight. Wordless, but still clearly visible as if the blue one was looking straight into the lookalike's soul through the two scarlet-red windows. Pride against safety. What would win…?

Slowly, very slowly he nodded.

"Fine." A bright smirk crawled across peach muzzle. "Knew you would make a right choice. Now go away and be a good hedgehog, or I'll have to go back one day and finish with you."

And it wasn't a joke. And the black hedgehog's faint shudder told clearly that he had no problem understanding it.

The blue one pushed him away, and the lookalike couldn't prevent himself from falling onto the floor limply. It took less than a second for the fugitive to unlock the door and slip out of the room. For a single moment he looked back, and shining green eyes met glowing red ones in something caught in between a challenge and a farewell. Then the eye-contact was broken, and the blue hedgehog vanished into the dark void behind the door.

He was running through the dark and silent colony, finally able to move at the speed of the wind, able to control his own body. He knew he still had to find the way to leave ARK somehow, as well as to avoid being caught by humans when finally on the Earth. But he simply couldn't help letting this large devilish smile spread across his muzzle.

He was free. And no one was going to stop him.

And maybe someday he _would_ get a chance to see Shadow again…


	2. 01 Face to face

**Chapter 1: Face to face**

.w.

Sonic stood still, panting slightly after a fight, a bit more relaxed than before, but not completely off guard. The robot was destroyed, true, but who knew how many of them were after him now, hiding in shadows, following him silently, waiting for better chance to attack? GUN possessed many more robots, and smashing one of them definitely wasn't enough to throw the organization off his tail. If Sonic wanted to feel safe, he had to find out what was going on.

He turned to leave, but fell to a stop immediately as he noticed something what he thought was a movement of the defeated robot. The air above the pieces of metal which had previously been F-6t 'Big Foot' thickened; piercing light bloomed there, a dark figure appearing in its core… a figure of a hedgehog…

Sonic gasped for air, his throat suddenly going dry and his mind slumping into a haze.

_'…Hello, Shadow, long time no see!'_

_'…Sorry for never bothering about you, didn't know you survived that little accident aboard ARK.'_

_'…How could it happen that I've never seen you after my escape? Jeez, it's been, say, fifty years?'_

_'…By the way, what are you doing here__ anyway?'_

Well, none of those phrases made their way up his throat, though. Sonic just stared; Shadow, on the contrary, didn't seem to be amused by his counterpart's dumbfounded expression. His gaze never left a gemstone in his hand; he raised it higher and spoke in a low voice. "It all starts with this… A jewel containing the ultimate power…"

"Wha-?" Sonic blinked. "Wait, it's…"

He left the sentence unfinished as things suddenly shifted back on their places in his head. "Now I know what' going on! GUN has mistaken me for the likes of you!"

Shadow finally looked up, his gleaming red eyes meeting Sonic's demanding ones. Tan lips curled into a smirk – not like the blue hedgehog's bright and challenging one, but into a dark, knowing grin. Yet he still remained silent…

Sonic frowned, feeling aggravated already. Yes, he and Shadow hadn't been kind of buddies in the past, but didn't he deserve a little of an explanation?

"Say something already, won't you?"

"I am Shadow the hedgehog, the world's only Ultimate Lifeform," the dark hedgehog spoke finally, uttering each word slowly and clearly as if talking to a mental defective. "It was rather entertaining to watch you, but unfortunately I've got more important business to take care of. Farewell… hedgehog. Chaos Control!"

Another wave of light emerged from the emerald, making Sonic shut his eyes closed. When he opened them after a second, the black hedgehog was no more before him.

"…Great." The hero rolled his eyes, feeling completely thrown off. He turned to take off and go find where on the planet his new-found counterpart had gone…

"Don't move! Stay where you are! Keep your hands up in the air!"

There were GUN soldiers, dozens of them everywhere his eye could travel. And every one of them was aiming straight at him. Sonic was pretty sure that they had an order to fire if he just twitches to move and would be happy to carry it out. He also noticed a few Beetle bots flying above the buildings.

"Oh no, not again…"

.w.

Shadow was looking down at the Earth through the thick glass, just like he and Maria had used to fifty years ago. He had dreamed of going down there, looking at the 'sky', feeling the 'sunshine' sprinkling over his skin, feeling the 'wind' the had read and heard about so many times; now, having been there, but already unable to enjoy anything, he found the sight of blue and white sphere beneath him to be the only one welcome, the only one able to calm his laboured thoughts just a bit.

It had been fifty years, but from where he was standing, the planet seemed to be just the same. Like absolutely nothing had happened since he had left the colony last time.

Fifty years… It looked like his revenge was going to be a bit overdue. Shadow felt bitter, but thoughts of changing his mind never visited him. It had been decided long ago; the mankind would pay for taking Maria from him.

He had already started on his revenge mission, and judging from how it had been going so far, it wouldn't be too hard to pull it off. At some point Shadow wondered if human's weapons had been upgraded dramatically so even he had to be careful when fighting against it; but GUN still used slack robots and feebly armed human troops not much different from ones of fifty years ago, which meant nothing against his ultimate power.

And that blue hedgehog… Shadow let an ever so little smile form on his face. Eggman had said that he was going to be a pain, but setting GUN on him and thus getting rid of him was just too easy. It was no surprise, actually, because what could a regular mortal hedgehog do against the world's only Ultimate Life Form?

Shadow shrugged slightly, shoving it off. He had seen the blue hedgehog only once in his life and wasn't planning on seeing him again, so it was no use fixing his thoughts on his might-have-been adversary.

The door behind him slid open, revealing Eggman in his strange walking machine and Rouge following him.

"Now it's time for us to act, Shadow," the doctor said, stopping beside him. "Chaos Control us to the Prison Island; the forest around the GUN's base will be nice. Then I'll introduce both of you to the plan itself."

The hedgehog nodded, taking his Chaos Emerald out. His moment of reverie was over; now he had the business to take care of.

.w.

…Sonic _hated_ water.

Well, at the moment he was separated from water with several walls, but thoughts of it weren't helping him much. If he was going to run away - and he was indeed - he had not only to make his way through metal bars and countless doors, but also think of the way to leave the island surrounded with miles and miles of water. Which made a certain problem for him…

He sighed and landed on the floor, letting his head rest against the cold metal wall.

Thoughts of his black counterpart kept following him since he had seen Shadow in the city hours ago. Sonic hated it, but he had to admit that the dark hedgehog's plan - if there was one - was rather smooth around the edges. Humans generally weren't anthropomorphic animal experts; they could anyhow tell a hedgehog and a fox apart, but all hedgehogs and all foxes were looking alike for them. As for Tails and other furries… well, it was easier for them to imagine Sonic dyeing his fur black and going evil for no reason than to suppose another supersonic hedgehog to exist. After all, everyone knew the blue hero, but nobody knew about Shadow.

Which reminded him… A deep frown crawled into the blue hedgehog's features. Seriously, how could Shadow have been able to hide for full fifty years before reappearing again? And in what a way…

_'Why __did he do all of that, anyway?'_

He mused over it for a while, but came up with only one explainable reason: revenge.

_'For that I've once run away right under his nose? Man, it's ridiculous...'_

But maybe it wasn't just it; Sonic had never wandered much, but he knew that ARK had been shut down right after his escape… and partially because of it. The scientists had been dismissed and their experiments abandoned. And Shadow's life sure had changed a lot since then…

_'But wait… something isn't right here…'_

Why on Earth couldn't he fight a wild thought, a feeling that Shadow hadn't recognized him?

During their fight, Shadow hadn't dropped a single hint that he remembered who that blue hedgehog was. Maybe it was only because he didn't want his proud to be hurt with unwanted memories; but what if he really didn't remember?

Was it possible to forget someone who'd made your life go to pieces? Once again it depended on what Shadow had been going for those fifty years…

_'I need to __make a list,' _Sonic shot up on his feet and began walking back and forth in his cell, unable to stay still any longer.

He and Shadow had once been experiments aboard ARK. Special thanks to that crazy Gerald guy. Check.

He, ugh… had done some doubtful things, for which he had been sealed up inside a tube. For the whole eternity, supposedly. Check.

But one day Shadow had come and freed him unpurposedly. Check.

What had happened next? He had got other thighs to care about and soon forgotten about that little conversation with his dark counterpart. Truth be told, he had never heard about the black hedgehog for fifty years. So where had he been, what had he been doing? Question mark.

And then those GUN pawns, handcuffing him and accusing him of things he had no idea of, obviously mistaking him for someone else. Check.

Then Shadow himself, possibly not recognizing Sonic, saying something about the Chaos and then disappearing, thus showing his ability to use Chaos energy. Check.

And the dark hedgehog's purpose was… Question mark again.

Not too bad for a start, but definitely not enough to make things completely clear.

Sonic frowned. He needed Tails to talk to; the hedgehog himself was rubbish when it came to researches and obtaining certain information. He wanted to find Eggman to find out whether or not he was involved (old habit, hard to break, yes). Chaos, he had to get out of here.

And then…

"Have no fear, Amy Rose is here!"

Well, sitting in a solitary cell inside the underwater complex wasn't that bad after all…

.w.

Marble hated his job.

Being a cleaner definitely wasn't something he dreamed of all his life. Especially being a cleaner in an organization which he secretly believed to be dead set on dominating the world and then screwing it up. And especially having to stick around humans who desperately despised furries like him.

So, yes, he hated his job. But it was the only one he could get, and he had nothing better than to gnash his teeth and swallow his silent complaints back down.

The fox snorted and lowered his head even more; he had to raise it again though as he heard footsteps approaching him and then stopping. He found a human standing in front of him and looking… no, already _glaring_ at him. Once looking up at his face, Marble had to turn his head away abruptly and hold back a swallowing move, wondering hopelessly what on Earth had he done to be met with such rage.

"Stop looking at him like this. You don't want to scare the poor thing to death, or do you?" Another man approached them quietly; then, without stopping to hear any hypothetical response from the other, he unlocked the nearest door with his key, opened it and stepped aside invitingly.

While 'poor thing' had some trouble swallowing his verbal bite back down, the first human shot him one last glare and entered the room without saying a word. The other followed him, and the door slid closed.

Marble sighed. Really, it wasn't a surprise for him, quite the opposite…

"Did you close the door? I don't want that guy outside to hear us."

"Sure I did. Man, you have to get a bit more relaxed, you know?"

Marble didn't agree with the words about the door being closed since he still could hear the conversation, but, once again, he didn't state his thoughts aloud. To tell the truth, he had already done with this hallway, but conspiracy of two agents was enough to ignite sparkles of curiosity inside him. So he stepped closer to the door silently running the mop over the floor for the second time.

"Is it necessary to hire workers like him? I will never believe we can't afford a couple of cleaning robots."

"Well, we're in war with Eggman, and it's much easier for him to hack robot's system than to bribe a sapient. People fear him, you know?"

"Can't say I'm relieved now, but… well, nothing. By the way, what about the hedgehog?"

Marble's triangle ears perked up.

"Nothing interesting. It sits inside the cell and does nothing. I bet everyone – including me – expected it to try to escape, to slam its head against the bars at least, but it didn't even think of that! Looks like the GUN's authority is enough for those creatures to go docile, huh?"

Marble huffed sharply. Calling a furry 'it' was probably one of the worst offences possible uttered by a human, and even if the fox didn't happen to know said hedgehog personally, he already started to boil with anger… but he restrained himself, as always.

"Why is it here, anyway? I heard that a hedgehog looking like Sonic has escaped from one of our bases, so why don't we just let this blue rodent go and search for the fugitive itself instead?"

"Sssh!" the second voice suddenly became more quiet and serious. "This information is confidential, isn't it obvious? I don't know the answer, and even if I did, I wouldn't tell anybody. I can only say there _are_ reasons for our leadership to do so, and we have to go with it."

"Fine then. In this case, I guess there is nothing more for us to talk about."

The door suddenly flew open, tearing the mop from Marble's hands and sending the fox himself flying onto the floor. The agent stumbled, almost following the cleaner; he managed to catch his balance, though, swearing in an undertone. His gaze travelled downwards, finding the outstretched fox, and his eyes narrowed dangerously.

"What the hell do you think you are doing?"

Marble swallowed. Somehow he knew that simple 'ugh, cleaning the floor?' wouldn't help him out, but quite the opposite…

He opened his mouth to at least say something, but never got a chance to do so as sirens went off.

.w.

Now Sonic could imagine what was going on; Amy said she'd seen Shadow with Eggman, which could mean only one thing – the dark hedgehog was supporting the mad scientist in realizing whatever evil scheme he came up with this time.

Which one exactly? Well, Sonic thought it wouldn't take long for him to get a chance to ask Shadow himself…

"Hey, that's…!"

"That blue hedgehog again, of all places!"

_'It's really funny now…'_ Sonic had to hold back a chuckle making its way up his throat. He suddenly wondered how the other would react to ever so tiny provocation…

"I found you… faker. Remember me?"

"Faker? I think you're the fake hedgehog around here. You're comparing yourself to me? Ha! You're not even good enough to be my fake!" Shadow didn't step back as Sonic moved closer, obviously neither impressed nor scared… to say the least.

_'Not good enough? Yep, that's amnesia for sure. Or a bad case of sclerosis at least,'_ part of Sonic chuckled mentally.

But another, greater part of him had been set on fire even before the dark hedgehog finished his speech. A fire of extreme anger.

"I'll make you eat those words…!"

.w.

Rouge sighed. She couldn't believe she ended up like this, with Chaos Emeralds in her hands, but locked up inside the safe and unable to get out by herself. What a shame for a treasure hunter she believed to be…

She considered contacting her boss to ask help, but gave up this thought shortly. Her secret mission still remained secret from almost all GUN soldiers, and it would take time for them to believe she was on their side. By the way, she was sure the personnel were already evacuated and nobody was around to come and save her in time.

The bat shifted uncomfortably against the wall. Now if Shadow decided her life didn't worth coming here… well…

.w.

"Shadow! What are you doing? Hurry and get back here right now before the island blows up with you on it!"

"Blows up?" Sonic gasped.

Shadow was gone in a blink of an eye; the blue hedgehog didn't have time to even think about stopping him. Now, however, with Eggman's distorted voice still pounding in his ears, he with no doubts had other things to care about…

He turned abruptly and started running, concerned frown settled upon his features. He knew his friends still were there and of course weren't going to go anywhere without him, so he had to find them before the ground beneath them went to pieces. As for Shadow and Eggman… he bit his lip and shook the thought off. It wouldn't be a problem for them to escape as well; Shadow had already shown his blue counterpart an ease he could wrap the space-time fabric with.

Sonic couldn't help wondering briefly just how many surprises Shadow still had for him…

.w.

"Why are you so upset?" Rouge wondered casually, entering the room. "Well, that was really impressive! You've managed to create complete havoc on the whole planet! Does this mean we control the planet and can do as we choose?"

Shadow sighed with annoyance. Well, _he_ definitely wasn't the one impressed; he knew all too well that Eclipse Cannon was capable of bringing much more destruction, and really was looking forward the next, and the last, he believed, demonstration of power. Right now he wasn't in the mood of talking to anyone and explaining anything, he just wanted to be left alone with his thoughts. However, he answered, not looking directly at the bat girl, "At this rate, the cannon will take too much time to charge up. If you want to unleash its full potential, you'll need all seven Chaos Emeralds."

"Where in the world have you been?" Eggman seemed to be glad to take up the strained conversation, assailing the bat girl.

"Something happen?" Rouge blinked innocently, stealing a glimpse at Shadow.

"Our treats fell on deaf ears," the black hedgehog stated obviously, shrugging.

"Look at you! Throwing a tantrum, like a little kid. How totally embarrassing!" the treasure hunter taunted Eggman, shaking her head in mock indignation.

"Don't forget your end of the bargain, bat girl…!"

Once nobody was paying attention to him anymore, Shadow felt himself slipping back into his thoughts again.

He knew there would be attempts to stop them, especially now, after their little show. He didn't worry too much, however; those humans could do little to nothing from there below, and there were no way they could get to ARK to start a hand-to-hand fight. And even if they could, Shadow alone would destroy all of them to protect the cannon. But…

But he was also sure that the blue hedgehog and his friends wouldn't give up fighting as well. He couldn't say he was really concerned, no; even after the fight in the forest which ended in a draw, he still had no doubts about his power. But it definitely was something he had to remember about.

Shadow clenched his fists. He just had to wait for a little longer, and then there would be absolutely nothing to worry about…

"…Did you get that?" Rouge asked him, obviously referring to one of Eggman's remarks he had missed. He didn't bother answering; it didn't really matter to him at the moment. Even if he knew he now had to leave and clear his mind for the next mission, all he could do was to clung to the words still sounding in his head.

"Soon enough, Maria."

Although Rouge didn't know what that was about, she found herself shuddering against her will.

.w.

"…Tails, did you find the President?"

"Just a few more minutes, Sonic." Well, maybe it would take a bit longer, but Tails didn't want to upset his impatient friend unless it was necessary.

He wasn't going to lose his time, anyway. Using the Cyclone's computer, he could connect to the web right then, and was going to do so to try and find information about Project Shadow.

And find he did, so soon enough he had to call Sonic by himself.

"Yes? Did you find him?"

"The President? Not yet, but I found something about Shadow. It may be interesting to you."

"Well, what's that?" Somehow Tails managed to catch Sonic's full attention. A rare occasion, really.

"I didn't find much, actually. About fifty years ago, different experiments were held on space colony ARK; it says about attempts to create 'The Ultimate Lifeform', but I didn't find the specifics. According to my resource, an accident occurred there; the government decided that the research was too dangerous and sent the military to shut the colony down. Some scientists tried to resist and were killed or injured. Professor Gerald Robotnik himself was taken under arrest and then transported to Earth, and the project he had been holding was transferred to GUN. That's all I could find."

Silence met him as Sonic was already lost in his thoughts. Well, it wasn't much different from his previous guesses; Shadow had lost his home and at once had found his life broken into pieces, so Sonic could imagine his dark lookalike feeling bitter enough to join Eggman and help him with his mad schemes. The blue hedgehog remembered about scientists who had been killed; if Shadow considered them as his family, their death only must have deepened his pain. And the hero knew from his experience that mental wounds always took long to heal.

Sonic had no doubts that Shadow would get better and recover with time, though. Still, someone had to tell him that the way to do so he had chosen was neither the only nor the best one.

Tails stayed silent as well, and Sonic realized he had to say something in reply to the information.

"Gerald Robotnik…" he muttered; he thought it would be hard to pretend to hear that name for the first time in his life, but somehow it wasn't. "Sounds all too familiar…"

"I didn't find anything about his family, but I think you're right: Eggman must be his distant relative." Tails hmmed, focusing on the road hard. "It explains pretty well why he was the one to find Shadow. I only wonder why he's still alive and doesn't even seem old - it's been fifty years after all…"

_'Oh, that's simple. He is immortal; means, he doesn't get older with time. I think. How do I know? Yeah, that's a good question…'_

Sonic shook his head. Tails didn't know about his past… and revealing it _now_ was the last thing the blue hedgehog wanted.

"I've never heard about technology allowing to extend one's life so far. It could have something to do with cryogenics, but as far as I know all experiments in this field have failed. Or… well…" the fox kit sighed. "Maybe GUN have something no one else does. As powerful as it is, this organization can afford having the world's greatest scientists work for it secretly."

"Yeah… this would explain everything," Sonic replied, feeling his carelessness slowly returning to him. "But right now Shadow is quite alive and occupied, and we're here to stop him. Which reminds me: what about the President?"

"Stay connected," Tails narrowed his eyes, peering at the dark spot that appeared in the distance before him and kept growing. "I think I found him."

.w.

"…Let's take care of business first, shall we, Sonic?"

Frightened pink hedgehog across the hall. Eggman pointing his gun at her head, grinning wickedly. Concerned and nervous Tails right beside Sonic himself.

Not too cool for a start.

"Hand over the Chaos Emerald slowly, and then we'll talk about your girlfriend. That is if you really care for her…"

Another time he would have said something caustic about Amy being his 'girlfriend', but right now his mind was busy trying to find a way out of this. It became much easier as soon as he was reminded about the fake Emerald in his hand…

Well, it was pretty simple. Hand Eggman the fake, let him add it to the others and then watch the cannon break down; Sonic only had to make sure his friends remained safe all this time. In the corner of his eye he could see Tails nodding at him, showing he knew what his big brother was thinking about and approving it. So now it was only a matter of the blue hedgehog's acting ability.

Slowly and tentatively he stepped forward.

"Put the Emerald down right there and then back off!" growled Eggman, pressing his gun harder against Amy's head and thus earning a small whimper from the girl.

Sonic grinned, pretending to stay nonchalant. "You've turned into a big-time villain, doctor!"

Despite Eggman's rough behaviour, the hero was far from scared. He didn't really believe Eggman to be capable of killing anyone; besides, if he was correct, at the moment the human could only think of getting the Emerald and making it to the cannon control as soon as possible. Which was exactly what Sonic wanted.

And yet there still was something he wouldn't have expected. A capsule of impregnable glass clashing closed around him, for example.

"Wha-?"

"You thought you can trick me with that fake Chaos Emerald, didn't you?" Eggman wondered almost casually, releasing a button on the Egg Walker's console he had pushed before.

Sonic bit into his lower lip, cursing himself silently. He should have known better then to underestimate Eggman, especially now, when the scientist had gone so far with his insane plan and had proved to be more prepared and purposeful than always. Now his shrewdness put Sonic and others in serious trouble… Unless, of course, the doctor himself didn't know for sure whether the Emerald was fake or not; in that case they still had a slim chance to bluff it out…

Meanwhile Tails blinked, somewhat taken aback. "So… how did you know it wasn't the real one?"

"Tails!" Sonic shouted out desperately, but, of course, it was too late.

"Because you just told me, fox boy!" the lenses on the doctor's face flashed with triumph.

The fox choked, opening and closing his mouth helplessly, slowly realizing what he had just done. Sonic felt anger slowly rising in his chest; whatever had happened, it wasn't the kit's fault and Eggman simply had no right to make him feel so guilty. If it came to that, it was Sonic to be blamed for being stupid enough to fall straight into the human's trap…

Anyway, those thoughts had to be washed away soon, and they were.

"Now for a little space ride," murmured Eggman, reminding Sonic painfully about the capsule he still was sealed up in. He had no doubts about what was going to follow those words.

_'Scratch what I said about Egg not wantin' to kill anyone…'_

He looked up to meet Tails' eyes - shocked and fearful, yet not full of tears. The hero knew that his little brother was strong and could fight Eggman on his own, but still smiled softly and reassuringly to show he was still okay, despite everything. "I'm counting on you, Tails. And Amy… take care of yourself."

Did Eggman really think he was going to beg for mercy? Well, the man was sorely mistaken.

And then the capsule was ejected and he was left alone in outer space, rushing towards his own death at incredible speed…

…wait, no. Not so alone. The fake Chaos Emerald was still lying at his feet.

Sonic blinked. The image of Shadow using the Chaos Energy to teleport himself appeared before him; he could swear he heard Tails' excited voice whispering into his ear, '_It has the same wavelength and properties, but is less powerful that the real one_.'

It was ingenious and ridiculous at the same time.

Tails said the Emerald had the same properties, but it still remained fake. Was it able to provide Sonic with enough energy to teleport without running out in mid-process? Besides, the hero hated to admit it, but he had never used the Chaos Control before.

But on the other side, he and Shadow had already found to have so much in common. They could move at the speed of sound. They were both immortal. And Sonic had already proved to be able to obtain Chaos energy - memories of the battle against Perfect Chaos were still fresh in his head. So maybe the idea of him wrapping time and space wasn't as wild as it might seem…

Anyway, he was in no situation to guess and feel doubts, all he had to do was to try. So he picked the Emerald up and took a deep breath before whispering, "Chaos Control."

.w.

When Shadow saw that blue hedgehog again, he at first decided not to believe his eyes.

This simply couldn't be possible. He had personallyy couldn't be possible. seen the capsule Sonic had been trapped in exploding in outer space; there were no way for him to escape. Even The Ultimate Lifeform himself wasn't capable of that… unless he had a Chaos Emerald, of course.

But when the hedgehog turned around, obviously noticing his dark counterpart, and a cheeky grin made its way up his face, he had to admit that his new-found rival still was pretty much alive.

"You never cease to surprise me, blue hedgehog," Shadow uttered, starting to walk side-by-side with him. "I thought that the capsule you were in exploded in space."

"You know, what can I say… I die hard!" Of course the hedgehog could sense a small question in Shadow's last statement, and he couldn't help letting his smirk grow wider. "_You_ actually saved me, you know."

Somehow Shadow already knew what was about to happen even before Sonic pulled out a Chaos Emerald. His orbs went a bit wider when he faced familiar yellow gem…

Chaos Control. How simple. Shadow really could have guessed it by himself.

But wait… something wasn't right here…

"It was a Chaos Emerald, wasn't it? But there's no way you could have activated the Chaos Control using an Emerald that's fake!"

It was something he couldn't have predicted, he couldn't have even imagined. Aboard ARK, fifty years ago, attempts to create artificial Chaos Emeralds had occurred, but none of them had turned out to be successful. And now some fox kit just took and did something the best scientists of Shadow's time had failed to. And right after that his hedgehog friend used the very same Emerald to produce the Chaos Control.

This just was beyond Shadow's comprehension. He wasn't even sure _he_ was capable of Chaos Controlling with a fake Emerald.

Maybe fifty years which had passed while he was frozen actually _did_ matter…

He shoved it off at once, becoming serious again… only a little more curious now. "So, there's more to you than just looking like me. What are you anyway?"

Now what could Sonic say to word everything he had been thinking about? He didn't know; and somehow he was sure that no matter what he decided to say, Shadow simply wouldn't take it serious.

"What you see is what you get! Just a guy that loves adventure!" Well, at least it was absolutely true. "I'm Sonic the Hedgehog!" As well as this one.

"I see," Shadow replied, either unimpressed or even disappointed. Sonic couldn't read his dark lookalike's thoughts and emotions with ease, and it was unnerving him just a bit. "But you know, I can't let you live. Your adventuring days are coming to an end!"

Shadow dashed forward, and Sonic didn't hesitate a second to follow him, his trademark grin already forming on his face. Oh, now they were _talking_…

.w.

…This was going _so_ wrong.

Eggman was shaking with helpless anger, looking at the cannon control going crazy right before him. He had already tried everything he could think of, but the cannon still refused to fire; instead, a huge warning message kept blinking on the screen, filling the darkness around with poisonous red light. The doctor hit the panel with his fist, but, of course, it was futile.

He was so close to his triumph. This stupid machine couldn't let him down _now_, it simply had no right to!

Another flash of red light, more intense then the previous ones, engulfed him, and his heart skipped a beat as he couldn't help but wonder whether it had to do something with a fit he had just thrown. But that thought was washed away when the message disappeared and a video started playing. Eggman's mouth slowly fell open as he recognized the man in front of him…

.w.

"Oooh, I hate it whet they leave me behind…!"

Amy was walking through the dark passages, not knowing and not caring about where exactly she was heading for. Right now everyone was busy trying to prevent the disaster, but even in such a time as this two united teams had no role for her…!

It just wasn't fair.

She stomped especially hard, shaking her head with utter annoyance… before ceasing all her movements altogether as all too familiar figure came into her view.

"Look! It's Shadow!" she whispered, stepping back and hiding behind the massive door. The dark hedgehog didn't seem to notice her though; he remained still and silent before the thick glass, obviously not caring anymore about the buzz he had created.

The girl lowered her head, musing intently. Shadow was behind all of this, and ARK was currently rushing towards the Earth all because of him; but he knew the layout of the colony like no one else, and his ability to control the Chaos might come in really helpful. If only there was a way to make him help them…

But was there? She was no fighter, and all she could do was to reason. How could she find words convincing enough so the bloodthirsty hedgehog wouldn't decide to kill her before she got a chance to finish her speech?

She took a deep breath, clenching her fists. "I really gotta stop whining. Everyone is trying their best to help out and so must I!"

She was Amy Rose, and there was no way she would give up without at least trying.

She took off, making her way to the giant prominent glass and stopping beside the Ultimate Lifeform. "Shadow, we need you! Please help us!" She breathed, clasping her hands together.

To her relief, Shadow didn't assault her immediately. He seemed to be more apathetic and distant now, half staying in his own dreamy world. "It's all going according to plan. There is no reason for me to help them. Besides, there's no way to save everyone."

That was it - the older hedgehog didn't appear to be interested in helping them, intent on carrying out his revenge instead. But at least he listened to her… and Amy knew it was her chance to try and make him shift his ground.

"There has to be!" She began, slowing down a bit and searching hard for the right words. "I know that people fight over the most trivial things. Some people may be selfish like the professor said…" Well, maybe telling the truth _now_ wasn't the wisest thing to do, but lying to Shadow just didn't seem right to Amy. "But they're basically good," she continued, finally giving him a reason to hesitate. "If they try their best and never give up on their wishes… they always have a reason to be happy. That's why you should help them out… saving them is a good thing!"

Maybe it was too naïve and childish, but it was true. It was all she could think of at the moment, and all she could offer to make Shadow see and understand.

And little did she know that she couldn't have found better words…

Shadow's eyes widened as previously locked memories poured into his mind at once, dull and distant and almost forgotten pictures becoming vivid before his eyes once again.

_"Shadow, I beg you…!__"_

_Maria… She was standing in front of him, leaning over the console for support, her cheeks paling as the blood was slowly leaving her body. The hedgehog knew she was dying, but was reduced to simply staring at her, unable to help in any way as he was surrounded with unbreakable glass…_

_"Shadow, I beg of you, please do it for me… for a better future!"_

_"Maria!" It was hard not to go to pieces right there and then, to stay calm and try to listen instead._

_"For all people who live on that planet… give them a chance to be happy… Let them live for their dreams," the girl whispered, her voice barely audible. But in spite of strength leaving her body, she still managed to raise her hands and pull the massive lever down, sending the hedgehog's prison of glass in a free fall._

_And despite the capsule was already ejected, despite he was now falling towards the sphere of the Earth, her soft and loving voice still sounded in his ears. "Shadow, I know you can do it. That's the reason why you were brought into this world…"_

Shadow placed his forehead against the cold glass, shaking slightly as truth slowly dawned on him. He was wrong. He had been wrong from the very beginning. Revenge wasn't something Maria wanted; no, she wished him to make people on Earth happy. That was the promise he had made to her…

And right now he was on the way of wrecking it.

"Shadow?" Amy asked shakily, unaware of the storm of emotions her words had created in Shadow's mind.

Then, though, she had to gasp as a single tear made its way down the tan muzzle, and her emerald green eyes lit up with disbelief and newborn hope.

"I've got to go now," his voice was still a bit distant, but the coldness in it was replaced with softness and sorrow. "I have to keep my promise to Maria… and you."

He turned away and rushed out of the room, leaving confused and perplexed Amy behind. He knew it still wasn't too late…

.w.

…They were rushing towards the colony, with thick and warm golden light radiating from their bodies; back to back, nip and tuck, at the point they were absolutely equal, supported with the same aspiration, the same yearning to save the planet lying beneath and behind them.

Slowly, struggling against the air pressure, Shadow turned his head to look at his ally. The fur, once vibrant blue, now was shining gold, just as his own black had turned silver; careless expression he had almost grown used to was gone, and now Sonic's lower lip was bitten into uneasily, his brows were knitted with concentration. He was looking straight forward at where their destination laid.

Shadow blinked. He had seen that hedgehog before…

And it became unimportant at once as those green- no, already garnet-red eyes shifted on him. "Now, Shadow!"

Yes. Now. He had almost broken his promise to Maria, but this was his chance to fulfill it. They still got some time.

The colony drew closer, threatening to smash two hedgehogs, but they were ready for this. Beams of light escaped their hands as they reached out, closing their eyes and shouting out two words lives of all the people living on Earth depended on…

ARK disappeared in a flash of light; a few seconds of blindness, and they were met with empty nothingness right before them and a small spot of light somewhere far above.

They did it. They returned the colony to its orbit. Saved the Earth.

Heavy tiredness leaned its weight upon Shadow. He could feel the energy seeping out of his body, his fur losing its perfect silver color and becoming black again, and panic spiked the back of his mind, making his eyes shoot open despite the lead his eyelids had turned into. He had put too much energy into teleporting the colony, and now he was painfully aware that what remained inside him wasn't enough to Chaos Control himself…

"No!"

His left hand was yanked upwards abruptly. Surprised, Shadow looked up - only to find Sonic holding him tightly and staring right at his eyes. Peach lips curled, forming a smile. "Gotcha. Sorry Shadow, no heroic deaths for now."

The black hedgehog blinked, not knowing whether to feel relieved, disappointed or aggravated. He allowed his muscles relax a bit though…

…and his hand slipped out of the golden ring Sonic was holding to.

Garnet eyes went wide with shock. The golden hedgehog reached forwards again, but his dark lookalike had already sunk down, and gloved fingers caught nothing. He followed desperately, but he already knew he wouldn't be able to reach Shadow in time so that both of them would have a chance to return back to ARK safely.

Shadow winced as the air began to burn around him, making his fur scorch and his skin scream out in pain. His mind was racing; all he could think of was that he didn't want to die. Yes, he had made a mistake, yes, he had almost let Maria down, but he had already paid it off! He didn't deserve to die like this! It just wasn't fair…!

Too bad he had run out of Chaos energy. Had he not, then maybe…

…wait.

Long time ago professor Gerald had told him that the energy amount he possessed was too much even for himself to control; so he had created four golden rings and made Shadow wear them always so he might use his energy little by little instead of expending all of it at once.

While the rings were on, there always were enough energy left in his body for him to stay conscious, move and think. Once the rings were removed, however, he was free to use all of it - even if it meant him passing out and even dying.

Now, three rings still remained on, but one of them was missing. Shadow couldn't tell whether it was enough for his energy system to become unstable and let him use the rest of his energy, but the fire drilling into his skin was making him desperate to find out.

He closed his eyes; the pain was making it almost impossible to concentrate, but he had to do it right now before it was too late…

_"Chaos Control!"_


	3. 02 Finders keepers

Chapter 2: Finders keepers

.w.

…_He couldn't tell what was happening to him. He felt too dizzy, too disoriented to be conscious. Yet the world around him was too real to be a hallucination. So he was probably just sleeping.__ Maybe remembering something from his past life in his sleep._

_He didn't recall falling asleep, and didn't feel like waking up right now. He thought he had read that dreams usually brought up memories and thoughts previously buried deep inside one's mind. He briefly wondered what his own subconsciousness could tell him…_

.w.

"He's being late," Knuckles growled with annoyance. "Does that hedgehog want us to leave without him?"

"Whatever he's doing, I'm sure it wouldn't take long," Tails replied, worried though. What kind of business might be holding Sonic on the colony anyway? "Don't forget it's Sonic we're talking about."

The echidna hemmed, but didn't reply to this.

They were waiting for Sonic in some kind of hangar where the rocket they had arrived in was left. Amy and Rouge had already made their way inside, while Knuckles and Tails still stayed on the top of accommodation ladder. Eggman wasn't present, and the kitsune had no doubts that the scientist had already found his own way to leave the colony.

The doors snapped open, and a blue streak made its way across the hall and up the ship's ladder. Seconds later, the hatch was battened down and the rocket began trembling, gaining speed slowly.

Remembering about the accident they had nearly escaped the last time, Tails shooed everyone - especially Knuckles, who snorted with annoyance - out of the cockpit. Although, like he predicted, not much time passed and the door behind the fox kit opened, revealing a tussle-quilled and very unhappy hedgehog.

"Man, 't was a nightmare. Being in an enclosed space with Amy, ugh…" Sonic shuddered in terror, landing into the seat next to his little brother.

"And how did you escape?" Tails wondered, slightly amused. He didn't turn his head away from the windscreen, but still managed to steal a glimpse at the hedgehog.

"She went after Rouge and Knux. I hope they'll entertain her with somethin' until we land."

Two-tailed fox chuckled. Although he did sympathize his brother about Amy, it rarely prevented him from feeling amused by the hero's hopeless struggle.

"So we're back to normal now?" the fox kit asked, becoming serious again. It was hard to believe - only a few hours ago they were fighting against Eggman to save planet, and now it was suddenly over. Despite the years of adventures together with Sonic, it was still hard for him to get used to.

This time it was Sonic who chuckled. "Normal? What's it?" Then the sparkle of amusement in his eyes dimmed just a bit. "Well, I don't believe Eggman learned his lesson, so I think we'll hear from him soon. An' besides…" he hesitated for a moment before continuing, "I'm gonna go and search for Shadow as soon as we're down there."

"You- what?" Tails gasped, turning abruptly to look at his previously-considered-to-be-sane brother… which resulted in the rocket heeling over sharply. Shrill shriek emerged from the state-room section, and the fox gripped the controls tightly to steady the course as he didn't want to face his furious passengers straight away.

"Isn't he-?" he begun, but trailed off as the word 'dead' refused to leave his mouth.

"I've seen a flash of light back then," Sonic explained, releasing arms of the chair he had clutched at and feeling a little more relaxed than a second ago. "It could've been Chaos Control, you know."

"Sonic…" Tails began, not knowing how to reason with him and whether it even was needed. "I wasn't out there, but I saw Shadow returning to his normal form right after the Chaos Control. I'm not sure he had enough energy to teleport himself at that moment…"

_'And the light you saw could've been Shadow entering the atmosphere and catching fire,'_ he added to himself.

"I know," the hedgehog sighed, brushing his hand along his head quills. "It's ridiculous, but… well, there's still a chance that he's alive, and I have to check it."

"Wait…" suddenly it dawned on Tails. "You made us wait because you were searching the colony, right?"

Sonic nodded. "I thought it'd be the first place for him to go to, but I found nothing. So I guess he's somewhere on Earth."

The fox kit sighed. The idea of Shadow Chaos Controlling without energy seemed insane for him. He wasn't a pessimist, nor was he angry with the dark hedgehog for trying to destroy the world anymore, but… he was a realist. On the other hand, he wasn't good at bringing his sometimes too optimistic brother back to Earth. And besides, the vulpine himself would be glad to see Shadow alive…

Tails closed his eyes and nodded, admitting his defeat. "Fine. As far as I could learn about the Chaos Control, you can only go to a place you've been to before. So there're not too many places you'll have to check. I will land at the Eggman's base in the desert where the Tornado was left, and you may start searching from there. If you want me to help you-"

"Hm? Um, no, thanks. Better take Amy and others home." At the point the hedgehog had some trouble concentrating on his little brother's words as he thought he had heard footsteps and a certain high-pitched voice approaching the cockpit. He pressed himself deeper into his seat, praying that the pink hyperactive hedgehog wouldn't get a chance to glomp him and strangle him in her arms…

.w.

_"…Professor? Where are we going?"_

_Shadow was puzzled. Shadow was confused. Shadow was panting slightly, being almost dragged by his hand and barely able to keep up with Professor Gerald. __And somehow the expression on the human's face made his stomach flutter just a bit._

_"Sssh. No need to be so loud," Gerald replied almost in a whisper. "We need to find Maria and… yes, we have to find her."_

_The hedgehog could feel a tiny pause and knew Gerald was going to say something different, and his curiosity only perked up. "What's going on?" he asked again, in a quieter voice now._

_"I will explain everything when we find her, and now, please, keep quiet and hurry! It's much more important than you think."_

_'It's important' was probably the most common phrase he had used to hear from scientists in general and __Gerald in particular. 'More important that you think' was less ordinary, but he had heard it before, too. So he wasn't impressed or frightened yet, far from that. He just tried to shrug it off and increased his speed, not wanting to be hauled so roughly._

_Something was happening __indeed. There were more people in the corridors than usually; some of them tried to call Gerald, but he only waved them off. Only once he stopped to exchange a few words with another scientist, none of which Shadow could understand. Meanwhile people were stealing glances at the hedgehog while passing by, and soon even he began feeling something close to nervousness._

_He was used to being stared at, being observed, but this time was somehow different, and he couldn't help wondering if it was _him_ who caused the panic._

_He shuddered as the accident of several days ago popped up in his memory.__ He had kept his word to the blue runaway hedgehog and hadn't told anyone, and the memory about it even began to fade away… right until today, and the Ultimate Lifeform was asking himself if it was a mistake of him._

_Shadow swallowed, suddenly aware of something that resembled a knot in his throat. "Professor… I…"_

_"Finally!"_

_The door in front of them slid aside, and Shadow fell silent and almost stumbled when the scientist dragged him inside. A girl rose from the chair towards them, her face worried. "Grandfather, what happened?"_

_Gerald didn't reply right away. He approached one of computers__ which were present in the room and pressed several buttons. A few seconds passed and he gave out a barely audible moan of desperation. "They are here already…"_

_Shadow and Maria exchanged glances and silently took their positions on both sides of the Professor. They were watching video from one of many surveillance cameras installed in the colony - one which was located in middle-level laboratories, if Shadow was correct. The hedgehog frowned; apart from scientists, some of whom he happened to know, there were people in black uniforms, striding in and out of the vision wordlessly. Shadow couldn't remember seeing people who worked and lived on the colony wearing black uniform. White - yes, light blue or green - yes, black - no, never…_

_He heard Maria gasping. "Grandfather, who are those people?"_

_Professor shook his head. He turned the video off and took a deep breath. "The government sent them to shut the colony down. I could foresee it, but I didn't know it was going to happen so soon. I have no idea how much do they know and what orders do they have, but we all - especially you two - have to stay away from them. I can't leave right now, I have to take care of my other experiments, but you…"_

_He suddenly turned and grabbed __his granddaughter by her shoulder. "You'll have to go to the 17th level - I know you were sneaking around the colony and know where it is. You'll find the escape pod bay. Now listen… I want you to leave the colony." He raised his hand as he saw Maria opening her mouth to protest. "I can't go with you - not right now. I'll be fine, I promise - it would be hard for them to reach this level when I don't want them to." He smiled - almost _grinned_ knowingly._

_Somewhere in the distance a siren went off._

_"Hurry," Gerald whispered. He was now facing both his granddaughter and the hedgehog. "Maria, I want you to make __sure that Shadow left the colony and then follow him, not waiting for me. Shadow, I want you to protect Maria. I hope you remember your trainings - chances are that you'll need your power. Now go!"_

_He almost pushed them out of the room before they had a chance to object. The door closed behind them._

_Shadow looked at his friend. Her cheeks were pale, but frightened expression vanished from her face as soon as she caught his gaze. She nodded to him. "We don't have much time, Shadow. Grandfather said he will be fine, and I trust him. You… you remember where the passage to the 17th level is, right?"_

_He nodded in reply. "Yes. Let's go."_

…_They were running through passages, stopping for a short time to remember what turn they had to take and running again. At first there were people around them, but soon all of them disappeared, leaving the runaways alone in sterile semi-darkness of the colony. Yet at least they were lucky not to meet any of those people in black uniform yet._

_Shadow gulped at squeezed Maria's fingers even tighter. Gerald told him he might had to use his power, and that was troubling him the most. He had had some trainings where scientists taught him how to use Chaos energy, where he for the first time had realized that he was capable of destroying… well, a whole_ _equipment-filled laboratory for sure. But all his previous targets were inanimate objects, and no one had ever warned that he would once have to use his power against living creatures…_

_He shook his head, shoving it off. They hadn't met anyone in black uniform yet, and he hoped they wouldn't._

_They decided against the elevator since it depended heavily on the power supply, which could be cut off easily from the control room. Climbing a staircase was a torture, but none of them complained. Finally they reached the 17th level the Professor had mentioned; without giving themselves time to rest, they went on running again. The Ultimate Lifeform was barely worn out, but Maria already looked exhausted. Despite this, she shook he head in reply to his gaze which suggested a respite. "We're almost there," she whispered to him. "It has to be around here somewhere…"_

_"Wait." He__ held Maria's hand tighter, slowing his movements to a stop and making her stop as well. "I think I hear something…"_

_They exchanged glances and hid behind a column of broad pipes, holding their breath and listening intently. There was another passage ahead crossing the one they had been running along; no one appeared from it, but distant voices hit their ears indeed._

_"…know that you absolutely can't…"_

_"We know what we can and what we can't," a second voice came out, harsh and loud and sounding like a choir of angry clegs. "Right now we want an answer."_

_Shadow swallowed, somehow unable to move, to keep going. _'They are here already…' _- Gerald's voice revived in his head._

_"…Where's the Project?"_

_The Ultimate Lifeform shuddered. Project. Him?_

_"I have no idea what you're talking about," the first voice replied calmly._

_"Hm… too bad for you."_

_A sharp and suddenly loud sound cracked in the air, making the hedgehog twitch again. For a moment he wondered what the hell could it mean; then a scream of pain exploded in his ears and a sound of something massive hitting the floor reached him, and his eyes went wide._

_Gun fire. People sent from the Earth shot at the scientist._

_He heard a gasp at his side and turned towards it. Maria was pressing her hand against her mouth, pure terror could be seen in her eyes. Shadow's own emotions were matched with her at the moment as it finally began to dawn on him what exactly they were threatened with…_

_The girl made a movement as if she was going to leave their hide, but the hedgehog caught her hand and pulled her back, shaking his head violently. He as well thought it was wrong, but he also knew they had to avoid getting noticed._

_"But maybe your memory just needs refreshing?"_

_"I… I… Ah, no!" the scientist shouted as the weapon was probably pointed at him again. Shadow cringed at how shaky and miserable the voice sounded now. "Lower decks! It's in lower decks!"_

_Lower decks? Where Biolizard was kept? Smart choice, the hedgehog thought, - maybe the creature couldn't cope with all the military forces onboard, but it definitely could thin them out._

_"Oh, thank you so much," the second voice lit up._

_There was another burst of gun fire… only no screams could be heard this time._

_"You shouldn't have killed him, you know," a third voice which had stayed silent before pointed out._

_"We were told that we can fire if they resist, and he did resist, right? C'mon, we've gotta warn the others about the Project."_

_A sound of footsteps could be heard, fading until it disappeared in the distance._

_Shadow swallowed, only now realizing how dry his throat had been all the time. He felt Maria's fingers trembling in his hand, and he looked up to meet her eyes. __His heart skipped a beat as he realized he'd never seen them filled with so much pain and sorrow._

_"They killed him," she whispered. "Just… because…"_

_Shadow nodded shakily. "And I did nothing…" He was now beginning to tremble himself. "If I had gone there, I could have saved him…"_

_He _could_ have stopped them, he had the power to do so. Yet he had decided to stay where he had been, in safety, like a craven, and what is worse, he had done it right in front of Maria…_

_"No!"__ Maria almost shouted - and covered her mouth with her hand immediately. "I mean," she continued in a whisper, "If you had gone there, you would have got killed… or would have had to kill them, and I don't know which is worse…"_

_Suddenly she took a sharp __breath and stood up straight. "Shadow, do you know what it means? They have an order to kill people who refuse to comply! And it means that grandfather and others are in danger!"_

_Shadow knew what she was thinking about even before she finished her last sentence. "We can't go back," he shook his head. He was still trembling slightly, but the first sharp shock already began to dull. "He told us to leave and- you yourself said we should trust him-"_

_"That's because I didn't __know how dangerous those people were!" A frown settled upon her face and her gaze become surprisingly determined. "It's cowardice, Shadow," she said quietly and yet firmly. "Cowardice and treachery to leave now when-"_

_"Cowardice?" Now _he_ was almost screaming even without meaning it. "Maria, your grandfather told me to protect you, and he won't thank me if something bad happens to-"_

_"It won't!" He saw she hated to shout at him, but she wasn't going to give up. "They're in danger, and I have to warn them-"_

_"They _know_ already, and they'll be fine!"_

_She bit into her lower lip in sorrow, but shook her head nevertheless. "I'm going back. If you want to leave-"_

_"You're not!" He grabbed her hand and pulled her back firmly but gently as she actually turned to leave. "Professor told me to-"_

_"Shadow, _please_, let me go!"_

_"Hey, you! Freeze!"_

_Both of them fell silent and motionless at once at the sound of that voice. They exchanged fearful glances briefly and very, very slowly turned their heads towards the man._

_It was a soldier__ in black uniform; he was alone and, as Shadow could judge from his voice, he wasn't one of those who had killed the scientist a few minutes before. But it wasn't a great relief anyway as the hedgehog lowered his gaze and found a submachine gun pointed directly at them._

_Yes, Shadow thought sorely, it wasn't smart of them to just stand and argue in the middle of the passage while armed soldiers were around. Pity that it was a bit too late for the remorse._

_The man swallowed, obviously less confident and more nervous than the previous two. The barrel twitched, now pointing straight at the Ultimate__ Lifeform. "You, hands off her!"_

_The hedgehog released his grip immediately and took a few quick steps back. If someone had to be held at the gun point, it would be him. Not Maria._

_"Are you okay, miss?" the soldier asked, not tearing his gaze from Shadow. Without a pause, he continued, "What is this thing?"_

_"Um…" the girl was shifting her gaze from the human to the hedgehog and back helplessly, her face now even paler than before. "He… he's…"_

_Despite how much Shadow hated it, it looked like he was going to have to use his power against a human. __He just didn't see another way out of this._

_"He's just a hedgehog who lives here, nothing more."_

_The barrel swung a bit. "We have an order to find some 'Project'. __Maybe it's him?"_

_"No! __It's not him!" Her desperate cry could be simply taken as 'yes'._

_It was just too much for Shadow. His left hand shot up and to the right, a beam of Chaos energy forming between his fingers quickly. If he remembered it right, he just had to concentrate and then 'throw' the energy at his target; maybe not kill the human, just leave him in shock until they would get away._

_His movement was quick, but so was the soldier's reaction. His fingers tightened, pulling the trigger…_

_"No!"_

_Maria had never been as fast as Shadow himself, but somehow she predicted what was about to happen even before he made his move. In a split second the hedgehog found himself flying __onto the floor, numbly registering the hands that had pushed him and a sound of gun fire…_

_The next thing he knew, he was kneeling over his friend lying on her back, with her eyes closed._

_"Maria…"_

_He reached forward, but drew his hand back as he wasn't sure whether he could touch her without causing her more pain. He looked at the stain of blood which was forming __on her dress and looked away instantly, his gaze shifting back to her face._

_"No… don't die…"_

_He was the Ultimate Lifeform. Them why on Earth couldn't he think of something that could help her, save her? How could he have let it happen anyway…?_

_Her eyes fluttered open, revealing a flash of bright blue. "…Shadow?"_

_He blinked and reached forward again, this time caressing her cheek gently. "You're alive… thank Chaos."_

_He had to say something more. Tell her how scared he had felt moments ago. Tell her he was sorry. Tell her that everything was going to be okay. And he would have done so if his mind hadn't gone completely blank and numb._

_She turned her head, looking to her side. "Where is he?"_

_The soldier. The one who had tried to kill her._

_Shadow looked at where the man had been standing, but saw nothing. "He's gone."_

_"Did… did you kill him?" the girl asked quietly, making an attempt to sit up._

_Shadow shook his head, helping her. "I don't remember… But if I did, there would be a body lying around, right?" He didn't want to think that he could have eliminated the human so absolutely nothing of the body was left._

_"I guess so…" She already was breathing heavily, covering the wound with her one hand._

_The hedgehog took a deep breath. "It means that he'll return and bring more soldiers with him, so we have to go right now. Do you think you can walk?"_

_"Yes," the girl replied - and winced when she tried to get up to her feet. "Oh…" she closed her eyes shut and sank down again._

_At least Shadow was glad that returning to Gerald didn't seem an option for her anymore. He squeezed her hand slightly. "Don't even think that I'm going to leave you here. We're going together or… well, actually there are no other options. Here, I can support you…"_

_"Thanks." D__espite the pain and fear she had to feel, she actually smiled to him. The warm and soft smile which made him smile in response._

_With Shadow's help, she managed to get to her feet. __She was trembling with exertion, but not a single sound escaped her lips. For the countless time the hedgehog was amazed at how strong she was despite her young age…_

_"Let's go," he whispered, and slowly, carefully, clinging to each other, they went on their journey to the escape pod bay._

.w.

_This last dream dulled and faded, and he was glad to push it aside. He had a feeling that he had seen it before, and somehow he didn't want to know how it was going to end. Now more dreams drifted closer, and he was glad to let himself drown in their warm embrace._

_But it seemed like he wouldn't be given such a pleasure. His dreams were shooed aside as the reality tried to claim him; numbly, distantly, he could feel it all over himself. Voices. Touches. Movements of his own limbs which felt like pieces of plush. As if he was shifted, even carried. By whom? He didn't care. He didn't mind as long as he was allowed to stay in his dreams._

_He couldn't check over his body right now, but he could guess it was in no condition right now for him to be __conscious. So as soon as he was settled again, he was glad to shove the reality off and dive deeper into his subconsciousness…_

.w.

Prison Island? Counted out since it had been completely destroyed. Not the best place to Chaos Control to when you're out of energy and need help urgently, eh?

Eggman's base in the desert? Sonic had searched it from top to bottom, but found nothing. Well, the hero wasn't quite sure whether Shadow had ever been there in the first place.

Railway near Pumpkin Hill? It was possible, but he still found nothing.

Roads of Central City where the encounter between Shadow and GUN forces had taken place? It was the last area Sonic wanted to go to; the panic among the citizens hadn't subsided yet, and the hedgehog doubted he wanted to continue his search with waves of scared and excited people crushing around him. But it looked like he had no choice.

About an hour passed with the same result - means, with no result.

He landed on the pier across the road from train station, his legs dangling in the air above the water loosely. He was looking at his own rippled reflection while different thought were pushing one another in his head. He had looked everywhere he knew the dark hedgehog had been and hadn't found a single black quill. Now only places he _didn't_ know about were left, which made the issue much, much more complicated.

But wait. Maybe he wasn't dead wrong and Shadow had really Chaos Controlled to the city, but somebody had found him before Sonic and had called the ambulance straight away. Which meant the hero had to check all hospitals as well.

He clutched at this thought in attempt to shake the image of Tails' sceptic expression out of his head. Shadow wasn't dead- he couldn't be. He had to be alive… he was just hidden somewhere Sonic couldn't find him yet…

"Here you are! Glad to see you're fine again, I was really worrying about you!"

Sonic looked back and saw an old lady hurrying towards him. "Erm… Sorry?" he asked, a bit confused.

"The wounds!" the woman clasped her hands, unable to suppress her emotions. She was now standing two steps away from him, looking down at him excitedly. "The wounds all over you body! I still flinch when I recall them! Oh goodness, you're lucky that you're such a good healer!"

"…Wait." Sonic turned around in his sitting position, feeling hope rising in his chest again. "You mean you saw a wounded hedgehog looking like me, right?"

"Yes," she nodded, slightly confused. "But… wasn't it you?"

"Hm… no. It was my…"

_'Yeah, Sonic, who's Shadow for you? Brother? Relative? A random passer-by?'_

"Just a friend." Huge, bright smile crawled across his face. "But we look alike… sort of. So, do you know where he is?"

"Of course I do!" the old lady exclaimed; her initial shock was over, and now she was bubbling over with excitement again. "I was the one who found him! Poor thing, he wasn't moving, and at first I thought he was killed by Eggman's robots; but then I approached and noticed that he was still breathing! I felt so relieved, and I went to call help as quick as I could. Gosh, those ambulance cars always take forever to arrive…"

"Uh…" Sonic flinched, desperate to squeeze a word into her monologue. "So, em, where is he _now_?"

"Oh, didn't I tell you? He was taken to the first city hospital! Oh, I hope he's going to be okay… When I saw you, I-"

"Yeah. Sorry, but I have to go visit him now." Sonic stood up, shaking the dust off his rear. "By the way, where was he when you found him?"

"Oh… in the park, in one of the city parks! I felt too curious to stay home, but people on the streets were so loud, so I decided to-"

A small 'whooosh' interrupted her, and when she looked at where the hedgehog had stood seconds ago, she found nothing. Surprised, she could only open her mouth and close it again.

Sonic already was far away. He happened to know where the said hospital was, and now was rushing towards it, so many emotions boiling inside him.

Shadow was alive. And some old woman had found him in the city park.

Sometimes logic really could go hang.

.w.

_Dark __hallway. Naked walls on the left and on the right, hollow nothingness behind and in a few steps in front of him. Clicking of handcuffs around his wrists. Two massive figures escorting him, following him silently... like shadows._

_How ironic._

_Poorly alight room with a lonely man inside. Himself being forcefully pushed in._

_"You have only __fifteen minutes"._

_They didn't mention anything about surveillance, but it wasn't actually necessary. He already knew that he and the man would never be left without anyone watching them._

_The door closed behind, and the man lifted his head slowly to look at him. A strait-jacket was restraining his movements, but his eyes were glowing ferociously.__ "Nice to see you… alive, Shadow."_

_For some reason he found it unbearably hard to meet those eyes._

_"Tell me... What do you feel?"_

_Gerald was going to ask why __he hadn't been able to protect his granddaughter, to prevent her from being killed right in front of him. He had to be, since the GUN must have already informed him pleasantly about everything what had happened on ARK in mind-numbing detail. He wanted to know what his creation thought of failing his master like that._

_And he knew he had nothing to say in response._

_"Don't you feel hatred for those who took away everything from you? Who killed Maria?"_

_"Don't... don't say... it still hurts..."_

_He wasn't looking at Gerald. __He couldn't. There were absolutely nothing and no one in the room except them, nothing for his eyes to rest on, but he fought hard to never let his gaze meet Gerald's, keeping it on the floor instead. It was easier._

_"You say it hurts you… so you probably __can imagine the way I feel now."_

_He hated this conversation from the very beginning. He should have known it was going to be this way, should have prepared some kind of repulse, but his mind had been in sort of haze recently. He didn't even remember getting caught by GUN forces; he only __knew he had given himself up on purpose. In spite of everything, the only person he trusted who was left was Gerald, and he had no other place to go._

_"Then tell me, Shadow... Those people who killed her… all the people who live on this planet…"_

_He twitched. This sounded so painfully familiar…_

_"…don't they deserve revenge?"_

_In a heartbeat, he found himself looking directly into two small dark glasses without even realizing it._

_Revenge? Maria hadn't said that. She had told him to let all the people be happy._

_"Maria didn't want this…"_

_"Maybe," the professor's face was emotionless, almost casual. "But she also didn't want to die. Don't you think she would have changed her mind if she knew that the people she loved so much were capable of killing her, an innocent child, for no reason?"_

_Shadow blinked. He wanted to look away from those twin black lenses, but somehow he couldn't. Yet now his mind finally became clear as he remembered the last time he had seen Maria. Dying, giving her life in the cause of his escape and knowing it, __she was still smiling, forgiving the ones who had caused her so much pain… even wishing them to be happy. Shadow trusted his creator, but this time he simply couldn't be right._

_"No…" __He swallowed, forcing his voice to become firm again- well, at least trying to. "No. She wouldn't. She still wanted people to be happy, even despite… despite…" he didn't finish, but he hoped the professor got the idea._

_"Shadow, you don't quite understand," Gerald sighed, visibly tired of the bluntness of his creation. "Maybe Maria really wanted those stupid humans to be happy. But she is dead now- she was killed. And now _I_ want you to destroy them for taking her life. Just like _you_ do. Am I right?"_

_Shadow__ swallowed, hard. He couldn't tell for sure. There were pain, bitterness, sorrow… he searched for the anger and hatred in his soul, but found nothing._

_He didn't want to kill anyone. He just wanted Maria to be alive and with him again._

_"I promised her…" It wasn't supposed to be a whisper. Where on Earth had his strength, his composure gone…? "You can't break your promise just because the person you gave it to is dead, can you?"_

_"You did?" the professor pretended to be surprised. "And what exactly?"_

_Shadow blinked. __He honestly tried to recall it; but all he could think of was just Maria's face before him. Her hair a bit tousled after running for long, her eyes shining at him, her lips moving slightly, telling him… telling him… something…_

_Something he didn't remember._

_It was something more than just important - something his whole life depended on. How could he have forgotten it so soon?_

_"You don't remember, do you?" his master nodded, obviously not needing an audible answer. "That's okay actually. Now you'll have to give another promise- this time to me. I want you to take revenge on them, on every single human living on Earth. GUN will seal you up, but I arranged so that one day you'll get a chance to get free. The Eclipse Cannon- you know what you'll have to do. Now tell me, Shadow: will you do that?"_

_It was strange. He felt like hypnotized, mesmerized, standing still and falling free at the same time, so far away from his master but unable to break this sudden link between them. He didn't want it to be. He wanted his own will to be with him, wanted to be able to tell wrong apart from right on his own. He didn't need those two black gimlets to thread their way through his mind, leaving it burnt, dark and empty._

_"Shadow, we don't have time for that. I can hear the soldiers coming here. Do you promise me that?"_

_Shadow himself now could hear heavy footsteps echoing outside the room. Fifteen minutes they had had run out…_

_After all, wasn't it exactly what Maria wanted__? He still couldn't remember, but wishing your killers to suffer would be logical, wouldn't it?_

_And what Gerald was saying __was right… right?_

_"Shadow?"_

_He swallowed, his throat completely dry. He heard the scraping in the keyhole; in a few seconds he would be led out of the room, and only Chaos knew if he would ever get a chance to see Gerald again._

_Maybe he wouldn't, and it was their last talk to each other. So…_

_"I…__"_

_His reply was lost in the rumble of the door opening behind him. A second passed, and he already couldn't remember what he was going to say or even had actually said out loud…_

.w.

He woke up and sat up harshly with a strange and intense feeling surging through his veins. He might have never experienced it before, but out of some instinct he knew what it meant. His life was in danger.

Next, though, this thought receded into the background as sharp pain stung every part of his body, and he was forced to curl up into a tight ball, falling clumsily on his side.

Maybe it wasn't too smart of him to wake up now, when he was in such a nasty condition.

His eye, one which wasn't buried in thick pillow, cracked open and scanned the space around him in search of danger his subconsciousnesshad tried to warn him about. He was in a dark room which could easily be an individual hospital ward; in the poor light he could see a closed door, a table with some medicines on it near his head and a jalousie window above it. Plus a bed he rested on. And as far as he could judge, he was absolutely alone here.

Now certain that he wasn't going to be attacked right away, he concentrated back on his own body.

He felt awful. The feeling made his memory travel back to when he had sneaked into the laboratory he hadn't been allowed to enter and had turned some strange-looking device on, which resulted in it spilling a nice puff of fire onto his palm, burning his glove out and stabbing his skin with thousands of needles. Later Gerald had told him that his shriek had been heard _miles_ away… And even despite Shadow had always been a fast healer, it had taken him good free days to get rid of the shooting pain in his palm.

Now was pretty similar to how his hand had felt back then. The only difference was that now not a single limb, but his whole body turned into useless pulp throbbing in agony.

He looked down at himself and regretted it almost immediately. The sight of his bare wounded skin covered with occasional wisps of scorched fur definitely wasn't something he wanted to hold in his memory. He closed his eyes quickly and let his head rest on the pillow. Learning from his previous experience, the wounds _were_ going to heal, but thoughts of it didn't help him much right now.

What is more, he was almost out of his Chaos Energy. A lump formed in his throat as he became fully aware of the feeling; almost having an enduring reserve of it in his body, being used to at as if it was an extra limb, and now suddenly almost empty, he felt… helpless. Defenseless.

Looking down at his hands, he also noticed that one of his power rings was missing. Thank Chaos other three still remained on.

And the worst part of it was that he didn't remember how he had ended up like this.

He didn't remember anything.

Though wait… He actually _did_ remember something. He was Shadow the Hedgehog, the Ultimate Lifeform, created on space colony ARK by Gerald Robotnik… Robotnik… Maria…

He gave out a barely audible moan and turned his head so his face was now buried in the pillow completely. He remembered her dying, too… and he wished he didn't.

Shadow tried to push it aside, catching his previous train of thought - or better memories - instead. His escape from the colony… He had avoided being caught straight away, but had ended up on the Earth - in the foreign world, with no place to hide, no one to go to… except Gerald. So he had given himself up, supposing it to be the fastest way to meet his creator. They had been allowed to talk- the memories of their conversation were vague, but he thought it wasn't important right now- then he had been restrained and frozen…

At that point his train of thought halted. Shadow didn't remember waking up from his cryogenic sleep, nor getting injured, nor ending up in the hospital.

But he has intent on finding out what had happened.

The pain had dulled by that time, but it returned immediately as the hedgehog tried to uncurl himself and sit up again. He winced several times, but didn't cease his movements until his back rested against the pillow. He thought bitterly that his journey outside the hospital- Chaos, even outside the room was going to be a very long and painful one… when he for the first time heard footsteps in the corridor.

Shadow tensed all over; his muscles cried out, but he refused to pay attention to them. The footsteps were indeed approaching his ward; the door opened, revealing a man in a white coat with a small tray in his hands. The hedgehog thought it had to be one of the doctors supposed to take care of him, but didn't relax just a bit.

"Who… are you?" Shadow managed, suddenly aware of how hoarse his voice was. It felt like he hadn't spoken for years.

The man looked down at him disapprovingly, meanwhile approaching the table and placing his tray on it. Taking more medicines off the tray, he said in a quiet, but firm voice, "You better not talk right now. Your throat can be burnt as well, and talking will only make it worse."

Burnt. He had been in fire indeed and didn't even remember it. Wonderful.

Shadow narrowed his eyes stubbornly. "You didn't… answer… my question."

The human sighed, evidently displeased with his patient. "I'm doctor Sine, and, as you might have noticed, you're in the hospital." He picked up a disposable syringe, unpacked it and began filling it with some colorless liquid. "I don't know what exactly happened to you, but your body is covered with burn marks, so I can guess you went through severe fire. Now hold out your hand." The syringe was full, and the man turned towards Shadow.

"Wha… what's it?" his voice still was failing him, so he concentrated on burning the man with his glare, not moving an inch towards the syringe.

"Painkiller. Pills may be not enough in your case, plus, as I said, you shouldn't irritate your throat. Now your hand, _please_."

Reluctantly, Shadow hold out his left hand. He forced himself not to wince when strong fingers wrapped around his upper arm, nor when the needle pierced his skin. When finished, the man turned away, returning to manipulating with small bottles on the table, while Shadow, frowning deeply and fighting not to hiss in pain, began massaging his arm gently.

Right after waking up in some unknown place he had had an urge to leave immediately; now, though, he was hesitating. The hospital wasn't an absolutely safe place - if GUN was looking for him, and it definitely was, then its soldiers were going to search places like hotels and hospitals in the first place. On the other hand, he couldn't think of any other place to rest and wait for his wounds to heal right now. So maybe it would be wiser of him to stay here for a little longer; to have some sleep, maybe food and water to make the gaining of Chaos energy speed up…

He suddenly realized how thirsty he had been all the time.

"Aren't you… supposed… to drink much… when burnt?" asked Shadow, his voice by no means pleading… just a bit implying, as he would call it.

He squinted at the man beside him, looking him up and down… and then gasped, noticing something he hadn't noticed before. The white coat rode up a bit, revealing a tight belt around the human's waist.

And a handgun holster on it.

.w.

"Once again: not now," the 'doctor' murmured, screwing the last lid down.

A lack of reply made him frown and turn towards Shadow. The look on his face and his gaze lying on the holster told everything the hedgehog himself couldn't. The man tensed and stepped back and to the side, blocking the door, and in one smooth movement reached for his weapon.

Shadow remained still, checking his body quickly and silently. It looked like he was in no condition to fight right now… which was going to make things much more difficult as he had no intention of giving up easily.

"G.U.N.," he muttered, shock replaced with disdain. Then, without a pause: "What was… syringe?" He hated the stammer, but could do nothing with it.

"Sedative, obviously," the man replied in calm voice. "Don't worry, just wait a few more minutes, and you will fall asleep."

_'Oh yes, __a great comfort to me indeed,'_ Shadow thought sarcastically.

It was bad. He was weak, injured, out of Chaos Energy, and he doubted he would manage to stand upright if he got a chance to get out of the bed. He had no weapon, but was at the gunpoint himself. And the sedative was already running through his veins. It didn't affect him yet; he knew his body was resistant to some kinds of medications, but he wasn't sure it was going to last for long.

Was it time to give up? Maybe not.

He shifted, so he was now facing his enemy. The man noticed it and tensed up. "Don't be stupid. The building is surrounded by our forces, there's no way for you to get away."

"Called them already?" Shadow was pleased to hear his voice becoming firm again. Probably the adrenalin in his blood was doing its work. Which was good, as it might help him ignore the pain that was going to come quite soon.

"Up here? No, not yet. I don't think-"

"That's good." With those words, Shadow grabbed the pillow and threw it at the man.

He practically reached his goal. The 'doctor' didn't lose his balance, but stepped back and apparently lost his sight of the hedgehog. The Ultimate Lifeform wasn't going to lose such a chance. He rolled over and fell off the bed; the blanked his legs had been covered with flew off him and landed on the table. The hedgehog himself fell to the floor and tried to stand up immediately…

A jolt of pain shot through his system, making him shrivel on the floor, twitching, shuddering. He bit at his lower lip furiously; he had to move, he had to get out of here before-

"Nice try," the soldier said almost pleasantly, tossing the pillow aside. "But you didn't actually have a single chance. Now _sleep_ already!"

Slowly, stubbornly Shadow stood up. He wasn't sure whether his growing dizziness was caused by sedative, or was it the result of his abrupt movement; he just knew he had to move, to do _something_ before it was too late.

"No," he said blankly. "If you want to stop me… ugh… you'll have to shoot me."

"You know, I'm staring to like the idea." The human didn't fire straight away, though. He lowered the gun, aiming at Shadow's legs; slight frown settled on his face as if he wasn't sure whether he was allowed to injure the hedgehog.

The blanket chose this exact moment to slip off the table, bringing a load of medicines with itself. The formed lump hit the floor with a strange clinking sound, which made the soldier gasp and turn his head sharply. It was a _second_ chance Shadow needed so desperately. He jumped forward; ignoring the pain, he grabbed the man's hand, making him release the gun, and made his body run into the soldier's. The momentum he gained was strong enough to make his enemy step back and hit the door, which flew open, inviting their bodies to fall outside.

The soldier finally lost his balance and landed on the floor. Shadow was more lucky for he remained standing upright. He dodged the hand stretched out to grab his ankle and took off, running as fast as he could. The thought of activating his jet skates raised its head, but he had to turn it down as he was still running low on Chaos energy. He still could run fast even without his special power…

"Ugh!"

He turned around the corner and crashed into something massive and was thrown against the wall. His heart sank immediately as that 'something' gave a sharp gasp of surprise and pointed a gun straight at his face instinctively.

His thoughts were lightning-quick. "There!" he shouted, holding back a coughing fit and pointing at the corridor he had emerged from. "Some maniac broke away and… kha… he threatens to kill everyone!"

The human snorted. "Nice one. I would even believe it if I didn't know that all patients were evacuated." After those words something hard - probably a gun handle - came crushing into his temple.

Shadow fell to his side, sucking for air sharply. For a brief second everything went dark before his eyes, but his desire to escape brought him back to consciousness- just in time to hear a second man he hadn't spotted before speaking, "…need to hit it when you can simply sedate it?"

There was a small click and stinging pain in his upper arm as tiny dart bit into his skin. The pain wasn't too bad, but it meant that another dose of sedative was injected into his bloodstream, his chances to escape thus becoming even slimmer. The hedgehog growled. He couldn't give up so easily, he wouldn't…! He twitched upwards, trying to get to his feet, but his muscles refused to support him and he fell back, trembling with helpless anger.

"We were told that this thing is pretty tough and… look, it's still struggling! Say what you want, but I think some precautions won't hurt." As the dark creature was now lying on the floor, the human simply stepped closer and gave a kick to the hedgehog's chest.

This was just too much for Shadow. Burnt, beaten up, with double dose of sedative running through his system - it looked like his body reached the limit of its possibilities. He choked, feeling his own blood filling his throat; once again the world turned over around him and his mind finally slipped into the darkness.

.w.

"Hello?"

Sonic was surprised… to say the least. The panic was still boiling, everybody was ready to start a street fight and let the chaos go on, but the hospital, where all the victims were supposed to be taken to, seemed to be closed. And the hero didn't like it.

"Hey, is anybody alive there?" he shouted again, knocking noisily at the front door. Again, nobody appeared.

_'Maybe she misheard the number? There are many hospitals in the city… Chaos, this is still strange.'_

He descended the steps and began walking along the wall. The first and the second windows he passed by weren't open, but the third was. As far as the hedgehog could see, the room beyond it was empty. Sonic bit into his lower lip uneasily, thinking rapidly; a couple of seconds passed and he made his decision. He placed his both palms on the window sill and leaped inside.

The hospital was silent. Everything looked like people had been here less than an hour ago, but then had left hastily for some unexplainable reason. Rumpled sheets, pieces of clothing lying everywhere, platefuls of food, open windows here and there, doors - closed, but not locked… but no blood, thank Chaos. Small comfort, but still.

Sonic proceeded to the second floor, becoming more and more anxious with every passing second. He hated to admit it, but his chances to find Shadow were getting thin quickly- yet the thought about it was washed away at once as the first door which was wide open on its own came into his view. His heart sank and then begun pounding heavily; he sped forward, for a moment holding his breath and preparing to the worst…

…Yet he let his breath go on again as he was greeted with empty room.

The mess was here, too; green eyes registered a pillow and a blanket lying on the floor and some small bottles of glass buried beneath the fabric. The hero approached them and took a few sniffs as he squatted down. He wrinkled up his nose at the strong smell - he had never been a fan of medicines.

Sonic stood up and stepped closer to the bed. He flinched as he for the first time saw blood strains, dark and evident on the white sheets. So someone indeed had been there, lying and bleeding, before then disappearing…

Shadow?

Maybe not, the hero tried to cheer himself up. Maybe it was another sapient, injured badly enough to be taken to the hospital. And the woman had mistaken and the dark hedgehog was now sleeping peacefully on the other side of the city. And the doctors along with their patients… hmm… went for a walk altogether?

He wished it didn't sound so stupid.

A sound of footsteps hit blue ears. Sonic looked back at the door, tensing slightly; a few seconds later a male cat in a white coat appeared before him. Alarmed yellow eyes ran over the room, registering the mess; then they rested on the hedgehog and went wide. "What happened here?"

"No idea," replied Sonic, for some reason feeling just a bit more relieved- right until it came to his mind. "Wait a minute. You're a doctor and work here, right? Then _you_ should know what's going on!"

"Some… men in military uniforms surrounded the hospital," the cat licked his dry lips, his voice hoarse from anxiety. "They forced us to leave the building… even the patients… they said that something dangerous was inside and they had to take it under control. That's all I know. They left about ten minutes ago, but we were too scared to go back…"

Ten minutes. Too late to track them down. Damnit.

"Say… a black hedgehog was taken to this place today, right?" The hero asked slowly just to make sure it was not a mistake.

"I don't remember. Many citizens arrived here lately - you know, Eggman's robots, GUN forces, battles on the streets, panic…" If the cat's eyes were just wide before, now they turned into two perfectly round circles. "We… we made it wrong, didn't we? We shouldn't have let them in, right?"

"It's okay. Not like you could do something to stop them," Sonic replied perfunctorily. What was left of his high mood was now gone completely.

He was too late. And now Shadow was in hands of GUN again.


	4. 03 Sticking around

Chapter 3: Sticking around.

.w.

The murmur of the plane's engine seemed to be the most comfortable and calming sound possible at the moment. This sound was one of many things Tails loved the Tornado for; somehow it would always give him a chance to feel relaxed, feel a bit at home. Although Amy, for example, sometimes complained about the noise and asked Tails to reduce it somehow…

At the moment, though, the pink hedgehog was sleeping peacefully on the back seat being tired after long hours of crossing the world and saving the day. Knuckles and Rouge had departed right after the landing, and the fox kit had no doubts that they would make it to their homes on their own without any problems.

It was going to take more than an hour to arrive home, and Tails searched for what he could busy himself with. He started with turning on the Jewel Reader - an old and reliable gadget able to pick up even the slightest signals of Chaos energy. After the fight between Sonic and Shadow and Biolizard outside the ARK all the Chaos Emeralds had been scattered throughout the world once again, and the fox wondered whether he could find any trace of them right now.

Soon, the scanning was over, and Tails looked over the results. To his surprise, no precise traces had been picked. What he saw resembled a giant blot; anywhere the reader could reach were beams of Chaos energy, from weak and barely visible to bright and powerful which obviously spread throughout huge territories. For the first time the kitsune saw a picture like this, and he briefly wondered how the seven gemstones could ever produce such a chaos.

The fox shook his head. Maybe it had something to do with the Master Emerald being broken, or maybe the Chaos field wasn't stable because of the energy that had been released in the outer space during the fight between two Super hedgehogs and a prototype of the Ultimate Lifeform. Tails couldn't tell for sure right now. So he decided to put his experiment over until he was at home and had all his workshop at his service.

.w.

There was a tap in the hall indicating that Sonic was finally back, and Tails immediately peeked out of his room. There was the blue hedgehog downstairs alright, his expression unreadable.

"Any news?" the fox asked in both curious and worried tone.

"Yeah," his older brother responded, his voice uncharacteristically calm. "Two things. First: I found Shadow. Second: GUN had found him before I did."

"...What?" Tails descended the stairs quickly. "Wait a minute. Where was he? Did you see him?"

"Nah. Some woman found him in the park, she told me that he was badly wounded but still alive. He was taken to hospital which had been raided by GUN forces before I got there."

The hero was tapping his feet and looking at the window absently while speaking. And as long as the kitsune knew the other he could swear that right now Sonic was struggling to hatch a plan to invade whatever GUN base Shadow was kept in.

"Are you going to look for him?" Tails asked cautiously trying not to sound any skeptic.

"Huh? Of course I am!" Sonic tore his gaze away from the window and gave his little brother a glare. "Last time they got him they froze him for the next fifty years, and who knows what they can do this time… Why are they after him anyway?"

Well, the fox just knew this.

"About your last question. I haven't been to the city yet, but I've heard some news already. And, well… not all the people believe that Shadow helped us to save the planet back then."

"Huh?" The hedgehog turned fully to face the fox kit who at the moment was seemingly feeling a bit uncomfortable. "Whaddaya mean?"

"Look, Sonic. Shadow was seen attacking GUN soldiers, then he was threatening to destroy the world-"

"But-! Didn't you see him? He regretted doing this, and we both then prevented the ARK from falling onto the Earth!"

"Yeah, that's right," the fox continued patiently. "I saw him, so _I_ do believe that he's not evil anymore. To let you know, the news reporter also said that you both saved the planet. But it just will be hard for all the people to believe that he changed so suddenly. And GUN… well, maybe they just hope to prevent the planet from being attacked by Shadow again. I… I think they would let him go if they knew that he's not dangerous," he added uncertainly.

Sonic shook his head. "How will they learn this if they are going to seal him away?"

Right. Tails always knew it was no use trying to reason with Sonic when he was dead set on saving someone.

"I'm going to get him out from- wherever he is. I have to talk to him without any crazed lizards hangin' over our heads. Besides, I just don't trust those GUN guys, not after they went for me by mistake and didn't even say sorry afterwards."

Tails sighed and nodded in acceptance. "Fine. But you'll have to wait until I find the information about all GUN bases' locations and figure out which one Shadow might have been taken to. And I think it'll be better if we take the Tornado with us since Shadow may be still asleep or too weak to move on his own."

"Um… You're right, I guess…" Sonic murmured, only now realizing that he still didn't know where exactly the dark hedgehog was now. "How much time will it take?"

"Not too much, I think…" the fox muttered uncertainly.

He knew all too well that holding still for only a few minutes could be a torture for the blue hedgehog. Especially today.

.w.

…He didn't want to wake up. He at last got a chance to sleep without any nightmares, without those blurry ghosts of his own past haunting him. Plus his body still was wrecked and he craved for a long and peaceful rest…

"…that thing stirred, I tell ya. It just needs to be shaken a couple of times to wake up fully. May I…?"

But it looked like his sleep was about to be cut short.

"Thanks, but no. Not now. Besides, looks like he already woke up on his own."

Shadow doubted there was any use in pretending to be asleep any longer so he opened his eyes slowly. The picture before him was blurry and wobbly and he had to forcefully blink a couple of times to make it clearer. The room he found himself in was small and dark; the hedgehog tried, but didn't find the source of light. All he could observe was a plain white table and a chair across it.

He also saw himself sitting in another and rather uncomfortable chair with his wrists tied to its arms. And, judging from persistent numbness of some parts of his legs, they were tied as well.

His body still hurt, but the pain didn't sting every single nerve anymore, it was rather throbbing numbly - obviously the result of his body's healing. To his relief, all of his burned fur was finally back, so now what remained of his wounds at least wasn't visible. He even regained a small part of his former reserve of the Chaos energy; but, unfortunately, it still was far from enough for him to feel safe and confident.

The face of the man who was sitting in front of him couldn't be seen clearly as it was half hidden in shadows; the hedgehog could see only a dark silhouette. Nevertheless, he could notice the man nodding, and instantly someone behind Shadow's back took a noisy but wordless step back. The hedgehog tried to steal a glance at the second human in the room, but, unfortunately, his position wouldn't allow that, so he returned to staring at the first man – the interrogator, as he could guess. A long and strained pause occurred.

"Well, Shadow the hedgehog…" the man finally spoke, "you were a great pain for us indeed."

Not knowing how to response, the Ultimate Lifeform decided to simply remain silent.

"Chaos, what a turmoil you created… It will take us forever to hush the whole story up."

Alright. Now there was one thing Shadow was sure about: the man knew exactly what happened after the Ultimate Lifeform had been woken up from his cryogenic sleep. So the hedgehog had to carefully find out what the man knew without revealing his own loss of memory. Rather tricky task, wasn't it?

"Won't even say anything to excuse yourself?"

He decided to take a risk and opened his mouth. "I'm not sure if the story has to be… hushed up."

"Oh? And what can you say about it?"

Shadow's eyes narrowed dangerously. "How many people were killed when your forces attacked the ARK? And how did you explain that to those who lived on Earth?"

The man shrugged, looking puzzled. "Who cares about something that happened so long ago? What I'm talking about is the present and the past few days."

Unfortunately, it wasn't something _Shadow_ wanted to talk about. "So long ago… You want to say long enough for everyone to forget?" He bit his lip mentally for letting himself act so stupid, but, to his desperation, his memory still hadn't returned and he saw no other way to find out what the hell was going on.

"I guess so. Not like many people were aware of the ARK's existence anyway." The man slowly settled back in his chair, looking at his nails with great interest. "If you are not going to change this soon, of course…" he murmured, almost as if talking to himself.

The hedgehog's ears immediately perked up. "What do you mean?"

"Just look. A day or so ago you attacked one of our bases and even managed to get inside and find a top secret archive. When our reinforcements arrived and made their way in they found nothing – neither you, nor… some very interesting papers. Papers connected with Gerald's researches and the colony's seal."

That's it! Now Shadow at least could tell why GUN was so interested in him. Of course, he still didn't know how exactly he had woken up, nor how he had managed to lose his memory… but it was something he could start with.

"And now I'd really like to ask where those papers are."

Papers. Yes. If it was true – even if he still didn't recall obtaining them, nor hiding them or whatever he might have done to prevent GUN from getting them back – he had to find a way to protect them.

Shadow took a deep breath. "I'm sorry, but they got burned when I was trying to get out," _'as well as most of my fur_,' he added mentally. Just to make the picture clearer for himself. Chaos, did he hope that it wasn't true and the evidence of GUN's misdeed had survived… "You might have already searched me and found out that I don't have them."

The man bent forward a little, somehow not sounding any disappointed. "Oh, sure we did. Now it's getting really interesting…"

"…What?" Shadow suddenly felt very, very uncomfortable. If those papers were the only reason why GUN needed him alive and conscious – and if there were no one apart from himself who knew about the tragedy… Was he doing to be frozen again straight away?

Something inside him shouted at him to get out of here. Somehow, anyhow, but quickly. Whatever it was, The Ultimate Lifeform absolutely agreed with it.

…Meanwhile, the answer to his last question he got wasn't the one he had expected.

"You sure did attack one of our bases, but not for the purpose of getting any information. No papers were actually stolen. I won't even lie if I say that the papers I mentioned don't even exist. And this is what I find interesting."

…Wait, what?

Oh shit.

"Partial amnesia…" the man whispered. "You sure do remember GUN sealing the ARK, maybe living on the colony before it… But you don't remember what happened two days ago. Am I right here?"

"Nngh…" Shadow managed, turning away sharply. Now totally confused and disoriented, only knowing that he had just been tricked like a baby, he now felt as ashamed as he had never felt before.

The voice in the back of his head revived again, sounding almost panicky now, and he tugged at both belts that were keeping his hands immovable. No use, no use at all. And there still was another man standing somewhere behind him, and the hedgehog wasn't sure whether he was in condition good enough to fight… to fight all the way outside the base, or whatever place he was in now… and he didn't have a single Emerald… damnit.

The first man pretended not to notice his movements. "Don't want to talk now, hm? Well, can't say I'm surprised."

Of course Shadow remained silent. He suddenly hoped that if he went on saying nothing, he would be soon left alone. A very fragile hope, but still…

"If you want to know, the ARK's seal took place fifty years ago."

"What?" Shadow's head whipped towards him sharply, the dark hedgehog immediately forgetting about his previous thoughts. The man couldn't be serious, he simply couldn't. He was lying! Well, Shadow had already figured that a lot of time passed, but… fifty years! No way…!

"Yes. Actually, I didn't expect this to be breaking news for you. Hmm…" the man produced a sound that could be identified as a chuckle. "Do you want me to tell you more about your awakening?"

The Ultimate Lifeform hissed under his breath. He felt like he was played with, tricked again and again while he wasn't able to fight back, neither physically nor verbally. The human seemed to know everything about him, while Shadow's mind still failed to provide him with memories essential to make a proper plan. It was somewhat similar to how he and Maria had been running through the ARK; trying not to get caught, confused, even scared, almost helpless…

Needless to say, he hated this feeling.

"What do you want?" somehow he managed to keep a calm voice and a straight face, but if the man was smart - and he sure was - he had a plenty of little hints of held back fury to pick up on.

"Oh? Well, okay, let's get down to business." The man settled back again so his face and frame were hidden in the shadows. "We need you. You possess a number of abilities that our scientists will find extremely interesting- and maybe useful. And-"

"No."

"Excuse me?"

"If you think that I'll agree to help you in any way, then you are dead wrong. I won't."

"Don't make hasty decisions. Better look at this first." The interrogator made a quick gesture, and another man approached him, a stack of papers in his hands. The first man took them and began leafing through them. When he finally found what he was looking for, he took out two sheets and placed them before Shadow. The striped sapient gave the first one a quick look - only to find loads of lines looking absolutely meaningless to him. The second sheet was basically the same, only it had a few signatures below where the text ended.

"What is this?" Shadow asked a bit suspiciously, not sure what to think of it yet.

"This document basically confirms that everything related to "Project: Shadow" which wasn't destroyed immediately according to the order, including the last functioning prototype - you, in case you forgot this, too - is now a property of GUN. Well, not exactly this one, those sheets are just a copy. Knowing you, it would be too thoughtless to bring the original here," the hedgehog didn't see the man smiling, but he could swear he _heard_ his lips curling and forming a smirk. "Here you can see the signatures of the GUN leaders and the leading scientists of the Project. Yes, Gerald was among them. I don't think he was too happy to hand his beloved Project to us after the colony was shut down, but I guess he had no other choice."

Shadow bit his lip and mused over it for a few moments. Of course, the announcement about the Professor making him a property of GUN, thus practically betraying him, did leave a dark feeling somewhere deep inside him; but it actually meant nothing now, and if that human jerk thought it would be enough for The Ultimate Lifeform to give up and accept his fate as a lab rat…

"Still not impressed, I see," the man nodded slowly a few times. "Let me try and speak your own thoughts aloud… You are trying to find a way to escape from here, and maybe have already developed at least one plan, huh?"

Shadow turned away and hmmed coldly, daring his interrogator to continue.

"But even if you succeed and actually get away, where will you go? Where are you going to hide from our forces? I guess I won't surprise you if I say that we can't have a specimen like you running loose."

The hedgehog raised a brow, now looking mainly bored. He didn't bother answering again.

The planet was big, and he hoped he could find a small place to live. Maybe even someone to help him with getting to now this world…

"And now it's time for the second breaking news of the day. As you might have already figured, you caused quite a sensation with your latest actions. But do you know that all the people of the Earth now believe that you're dead?"

Shadow blinked, not knowing how to react.

"Well, yes, you died. Or at least people believe so. So, if you let me make it short… You have nowhere to go. You have nobody to help you as nobody knows you are still alive. And trust me, not so many people really want you to come back."

Somehow The Ultimate Lifeform's silence didn't seem proudful anymore. Rather uncertain, doubting.

…Not like Shadow was going to admit it, though. Not even to himself.

"Of course you can hide from everyone for the rest of your life. But why? Why, if you can stay here, serving your purpose and helping the humanity?"

Shadow snorted and finally spoke. "If you think that being your guinea pig for years and eventually being frozen for the whole eternity seems a better option for me than hiding, then you are still wrong."

"I didn't say anything about you being a guinea pig. Nor did I mean it. I was talking about… well, call it 'partnership', if you want. You help us explore your powers, we help you return to this world - in all senses. I think it sounds simple enough. What about being frozen- yes, this option still remains, but I wouldn't call it a pleasant one. At least not for us, because it will be just a foolish waste. But if you keep on fighting against us, I'm afraid we'll have no other choice but to actually seal you up again."

"So, what do you say?" He bent forward, placing his elbows on the table and supporting his chin with his palm. Now for the first time seeing the man's face so close, Shadow was surprised when he didn't find any signs of sadistic pleasure the hedgehog thought he was deriving. There were inexpressive features, pale skin and deep shadows under the eyes; the human looked as if he hadn't been outside the room for at least a year.

Shadow glanced away, biting his lip. Whatever the man was saying, however tired and pitiful he looked, the hedgehog wasn't going to believe him. He wasn't going to work with humans - at least not with _these_ GUN humans. He had to get out of here, no matter how, no matter what.

"Well?" the man encouraged him.

"I… I need to think." There were hardly any ways of escaping from here by himself, but maybe he would be more lucky if he was escorted to someplace else?

"That's alright," the man nodded. The second human in the room approached Shadow; he made sure to put a pair of heavy handcuffs on the dark prisoner right after undoing the belts. The hedgehog didn't protest; at the moment he was busy massaging his wrists. His limbs felt almost as if they were amputated.

"Sorry about the precautions," the interrogator nodded at the handcuffs and the chair. "But you're not on our side yet, so we have to protect ourselves."

_'That's right, human,'_ Shadow thought to himself, slowly getting to his feet. To his relief, he didn't collapse right away, but he sure wasn't going to enjoy standing and walking with his feet like this. _'I'm not on your side.'_

"Hope to hear from you soon," the man said quietly.

The Ultimate Lifeform only hmmed in response and followed the soldier outside the room.

.w.

"…Just what are those things?"

Shadow was glad to be able to feel his hands and feet again. Of course, Chaos Energy wasn't making it into his body as fast as he wanted it to, and he was still running low on it. But at least his body didn't feel as if it was going to fall apart anymore. The hedgehog thought that in a few minutes he would even be able to use some of his moves to fight.

What he was so interested in were his handcuffs. Thick and heavy, they had a pair of dark red lines running along each cuff. A tiny bright red sparkles kept on sliding along those lines, almost too fast to be noticed.

The hedgehog tried pulling at the chain. Of course, it didn't come apart.

Shadow glanced at the soldier quickly. The man pretended not to notice the dark sapient's words, he just kept on walking forward quickly. Shadow waited for a few more moments, then just shrugged it off.

He thought of breaking away right there and then, while he at least was able to move almost freely; but before the thought took shape, they had already reached their destination. A massive steel door opened before the soldier, and the human and the hedgehog entered the room.

It was just as small and dark as the one they had just left, only there were no table and no chairs. Instead, there were bars. A line of thick metal bars divided the room in two parts - a bigger part which had a door and a smaller part which had nothing inside.

The door of his jail closed behind Shadow, and the soldier hurried outside. He didn't even bother taking the handcuffs off; by the time the hedgehog opened his mouth to voice his desire to get rid of his restrains, the door had already been closed shut.

The dark-furred sapient snorted. He was more than sure that those strange pieces of metal couldn't prevent him from fleeing anyway.

He spent a couple of moments looking over his jail. Actually, there was quite nothing around him to look at, save for the walls and the bars. He wasn't even given some kind of mattress to rest on.

Well, right. He wasn't supposed to rest, he was supposed to think.

…Maybe humans were waiting for him to stay here for a little longer to regain another bit of his power. Which meant it would be better for him to try and make his move right now.

The hedgehog approached the bars and tried pulling at them. Of course none of those pieces of steel agreed to give in and let him out; it was a firm cage designed to keep the strongest of the humans inside. Shadow mused over the idea of taking them down with one of his special moves…

…Though wait. The jail was designed for humans, not for small hedgehogs, right?

He tried pushing one of his hover skates through the bars, and surprisingly, it went through easily. The next problem was his head and body; Shadow turned his side towards the bars and rose his hands over his head. He hissed quietly when steel scratched his head quills painfully; mere seconds of silent struggle passed before he finally broke free. Soon he was standing on the other side of that pitiful excuse for a barrier.

The humans were _begging_ for him to escape, he thought briefly.

The Ultimate Lifeform turned towards the door. This one was locked as well but didn't have any openings he might slide out through. Anyway, he had already saved enough power to simply blow it off.

Shadow hmmed and smiled idly while rising his hand and forming a Chaos Spear. The game was finally on.

.w.

"Something sure is going on down there…" Tails mumbled, looking down at the base. Basically, it looked rather peaceful - well, as peaceful as a top secret military complex could look - but sirens were going off, and the sound could be heard even despite the distance and the roar of the plane. Some people were rushing around the buildings, but Sonic couldn't figure what exactly they were doing.

Sonic looked at the fox. "Does it prove that Shadow is there and already havin' fun?"

The fox kit nodded. "I guess so. And if we want to help him, we've got to hurry! I'm going to distract their guard troops, and you try to get in unnoticed and find Shadow!"

"Got it!"

The blue hedgehog jumped off the wing as soon as the Tornado descended. He hurried to the base; the soldiers had already disappeared, so he had no problem sneaking inside. The actual problem was to find Shadow; the hero could imagine how huge the complex was, and without knowing where the other was and what he was doing Sonic might have to stick there for quite a long time. Maybe even too long to get out easily afterwards if he was unlucky.

He started with simply running forward. There were people around him; of course none of them was fast enough to catch him, but some of them sure did notice him and even went after him, and Sonic doubted they wanted to just ask for an autograph. He got rid of his persecutors quickly, but he still hadn't find any signs of Shadow, and he started to worry ever so slightly.

A rumbling sound caught his attention, and the hedgehog immediately thought it was too loud to be created by Tails or one of his enemies. He skidded to a stop to listen; soon, the sound repeated, this time even closer and louder. And if Sonic was correct…

The next explosion seemed to occur right around the corner at the end of the passage, and the hero finally took off. He peeked out around the corner cautiously to look at what was going on. And there he was - the dark hedgehog standing right in front of Sonic with his back turned to him. He was facing a GUN battle robot; the metal being was already lying on the floor, visibly damaged in several places and unable to keep on fighting.

The hero couldn't help but grin at how much this resembled their first in so many years meeting a couple of days ago. Only Shadow didn't have a Chaos Emerald with him this time.

Still grinning, Sonic took a few steps forward not caring about staying unnoticed anymore.

"Hey, Shadow! Long time no see!"

* * *

><p><strong>Author's comment:<strong>

"...He hissed quietly when steel scratched his head quills painfully; mere seconds of silent struggle passed before he finally broke free..." - Cathog huh? Sorry about borrowing that scene, just couldn't help myself.


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